Authors
Abstract
This study was designated to investigate the effect of light color and stocking
density on some productive performance of broilers. A total of 675 Ross 308 one-dayold broiler chicks were used in this study. The birds were exposed to white light (WL)
as a control , red light (RL), blue light (BL), green light (GL), and Blue – Green mix
light (BGL) by a light-emitting diode system (LED) applied for 24 hours daily in
separated rooms. The birds were randomly divided and housed into 9 wooden sealed
pens of 1m
2
in three replicates for each density 12, 15 and 18 birds/m
2
in the room.
The results showed that the broilers reared under BGL significantly increased (P<
0.05) body weight (BW) and weight gain (WG) at 1
st
, 3
rd
and 5
th
week. Obviously,
stocking density had no significant effect on BW and WG at 1
st
week but
significantly increased under 12 birds/m
2
at 3
rd
and 5
th
week. Feed intake (FI)
recorded a significant increase (P< 0.05) in broilers reared under WL at 1
st
week, but
no statistical difference was found at 3
rd
week whereas, FI significantly increased (P<
0.05) in broilers reared under BL at 5
th
week. The stocking density affected FI values
which were significantly differed (P< 0.05) at 1
st
, 3
rd
and 5
th
week under 12 birds/m
2
compared with other densities. The results of the study revealed a significant increase
(P< 0.05) of Feed conversion ratio (FCR) in broilers reared under BL at 1
st
week and
RL at 3
rd
week but there was no significant difference between groups at 5
th
week.
The results indicated a significant difference of FCR value in 18 birds/m
2
at 1
st
week
but there were no significant differences at 3
rd
and 5
th
week at different densities. In
conclusion, the results of this study indicated that chickens reared under five different
color lighting schedules with three bird densities showed that broilers reared under
mixing blue – green light under 12 birds/m
2
has a significant positive effects on
production performance compared with other light programs and bird densities
Keywords
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