SHINING A LIGHT TO CHICKEN EMBRYOS: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON HATCHERY MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The transition towards limiting the use of antibiotics in the production of commercial broiler chickens has challenged the Canadian poultry industry to consider alternate approaches to managing bird health and disease. A focus on optimizing early health and performance has led us to investigate parameters in the incubation environment that encourage superior embryo development and chick quality. Two experiments were conducted to understand how different lighting programs affect embryonic development, hatch traits and production parameters of commercial broilers. Experiment 1 focused on the effects of light wavelength and consisted of four replicate trials. Broiler hatching eggs (Ross 308) were incubated in dark or illuminated with white, red or blue LED light for 12 h per d-1 (12L:12D). Our results demonstrated that providing a 12L:12D photoperiod did not affect hatch traits compared to those incubated under darkness. Provision of blue or white illumination resulted in increased feed consumption and body weight, and a reduced variation in cloaca temperature for chicks at a young age. Red light stimulation had a stronger response to vaccination on d 14 of age. The effects of blue LED illumination with two photoperiods (12L:12D or 18L:6D) on two strains of broilers (Ross 308 and Cobb 500) were compared to no illumination in Experiment 2. Both strains incubated with periodic illumination had lower air cell temperatures than those under constant darkness. The response of air cell temperature to periodic illumination differed between two strains. Cobb embryos had lower air cell temperature in 12L:12D than those incubated with 18L:6D from d 16 of incubation onwards, whereas lower air cell temperature was found in Ross embryos when illuminated with 18L:6D photoperiod compared to those under 12L:12D. Broilers hatched under 12L:12D had improved navel condition than those under dark, and higher feed consumption in the first 6 h post-placement compared to 18L:6D. In conclusion, in ovo photostimulation with white and blue light under a 12L:12D photoperiod improved early growth of broilers. The depressed production parameters found in 18L:6D suggests that the duration of darkness should be more than 6 h d-1 when providing a periodic illumination during incubation.