Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Effect of Lighting Methods on the Production, Behavior and Meat Quality Parameters of Broiler Chickens

Tibor István Pap
,
Rubina Tünde Szabó
ORCID logo ,
Ákos Bodnár
ORCID logo ,
Ferenc Pajor
ORCID logo ,
István Egerszegi
* ,
Béla Podmaniczky
,
Marcell Pacz
,
Dávid Mezőszentgyörgyi
,
Mária Kovács-Weber
Version 1 : Received: 29 February 2024 / Approved: 1 March 2024 / Online: 1 March 2024 (18:20:20 CET)

How to cite: Pap, T.I.; Szabó, R.T.; Bodnár, Á.; Pajor, F.; Egerszegi, I.; Podmaniczky, B.; Pacz, M.; Mezőszentgyörgyi, D.; Kovács-Weber, M. Effect of Lighting Methods on the Production, Behavior and Meat Quality Parameters of Broiler Chickens. Preprints 2024, 2024030065. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.0065.v1 Pap, T.I.; Szabó, R.T.; Bodnár, Á.; Pajor, F.; Egerszegi, I.; Podmaniczky, B.; Pacz, M.; Mezőszentgyörgyi, D.; Kovács-Weber, M. Effect of Lighting Methods on the Production, Behavior and Meat Quality Parameters of Broiler Chickens. Preprints 2024, 2024030065. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.0065.v1

Abstract

Many farms are replacing the lighting with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs because of the technological modernization. We aimed to investigate the effects of incandescent light (IL) and LED lighting on Cobb500 broiler chickens for six weeks. Production parameters (body weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio), calculated slaughter values (yield%, relative breast%, thigh%) and breast meat quality parameters (pH at 45 min and 24 h postmortem, color, drip loss, kitchen equipment losses, shear force, meat composition) were recorded. Non-stop recordings were used to analyze the behavior of the birds in several periods of the rearing. LED group was significantly better in body weigh parameter between week 1-5 and feed conversion ratio between week 2-3. The most significant difference in behavior was observed in the middle of the rearing period. The chickens in the LED group spent more eating time, drinking time, interacting, and resting less. There was no difference in the meat quality parameters, only shear force was significantly lower in the LED group (1781.95±0.33 g/s vs. 2098.82±0.42 g/s). Based on our results, LED lighting can bring positive changes in animal production efficiency, behavior, and important characteristics for meat consumers.

Keywords

lighting; LED; chicken behavior; animal welfare; production; meat quality

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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