Lighting for laying hens

• Grant number: 15/19655-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2015
• End date: May 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Edivaldo Antônio Garcia
• Grantee: Edivaldo Antônio Garcia
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Andréa de Britto Molino

Abstract

In order to update the information related to providing light for modern laying hens to rationalize the use of electricity in egg production systems with maintenance or improvement of production performance and egg quality will be conducted three experiments. In each experiment will be used 480 birds of Lohmann® line distributed in a completely randomized design with four treatments and six replicates of 20 birds each. The first experiment will be conducted to measure the length photoperiod which: photoperiod 1 - 14 hours light and 10 hours dark (14L: 10D); photoperiod 2 - 15 hours 9 hours of light and dark (15L: 9D); photoperiod 3 - 16 hours light and 8 hours dark (16L: 8D); photoperiod 4 - 17 hours 7 hours of light and dark (17L: 7D). In the second experiment will be tested four illuminance: T1 - 5 lux; T2 - 10 lux; T3 - 15 lux; T4 - 20 lux. The photoperiod adopted will be one that provided the best result in the experiment I. The experiment III will be to evaluate four lighting programs: continuous (control) - consist of a single photoperiod; Intermittent 1 - consist in providing 1 hour of light, one hour before the start of the natural photoperiod (morning); Intermittent 2 - consist in providing light 30 minutes, one hour before the start of the natural photoperiod; Intermittent 3 - consist in providing light 15 minutes, one hour before the start of the natural photoperiod. The photoperiod and illuminance adopted in this experiment will be those that provide better results in experiments I and II. The parameters of performance will be: feed intake (g / bird / day), egg production (%), egg weight (g), feed conversion (kg feed / kg egg and kg of ration / dozen of eggs ) viable eggs (%) and viability (%). For egg quality will be evaluated: specific gravity (g / cm3), to break peel strength (gf), percentage of yolk, albumen and shell, shell thickness (mm) and shell weight per surface area (mg / cm2 ). Data from the experiments will be submitted to analysis of variance, with the differences between treatments were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability, using the statistical computing package Sisvar (AU)