ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2007, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (1): 40-45.doi:

• 动物营养 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Monochromatic Light on the Egg Performance of Laying Hens

  

  1. 1 College of Animal Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094,China; 2 College of Animal Science and Animal Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhhot 010018,China; 3 College of Animal Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094,China
  • Received:1900-01-01 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2007-01-25 Published:2007-01-25

Abstract: Nineteen to fiftytwo weeks old HyLine Brown hens were exposed to red (660 nm, R), green (560 nm, G) and blue (480 nm, B) light from light emitting diode (LED) lamps and incandescent light (400~770 nm, W) in this study. There were 45 hens in each treatment. All light sources were equalized under 15 lx light intensity for 16 hr daily. The results show: 1) From 19 to 36 weeks, the laying rate in B light (86.8%±0.5%) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in other lights; the daily egg yield (47.7±0.34g) in B light was the highest and the feed conversion rate (2.75±0.07) in B light was the lowest among the four light treatments; the daily egg yield and the feed conversion rate in B light were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in R and G lights. 2) From 37 to 52 weeks, the laying rate in R light was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in B and G lights, but the egg mass (59.0±0.74 g) in W light was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in other lights, and its feed conversion rate (2.1±0.04) was the lowest among the four light treatments. 3) There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in cracked egg percentage among all light treatments and the softshell percentage in W light (1.3%±0.3%) was significantly lower (P<0.05) than those in other lights from 19 to 36 weeks. The cracked egg percentage and the softshell percentage were not significant difference in all light groups from 37 to 52 weeks respectively. These results showed that the egg production and feed conversion rate would be increased in laying hens when who was illuminated with either blue light in early experimental stage or W light in latter experimental stage under 15 lx light intensity.