Article written by Melanie Epp, of Candian Poultry Magazine
It’s commonly known that intensity, wavelength and duration of lighting influence broiler activity, feed and water intake, and overall productivity. It’s also well known that light intensity impacts animal welfare and mortality. However, there’s little research that supports current lighting recommendations and, until recently, few studies have looked at how lighting impacts broiler welfare.
A recent study, led by Seong Wook Kang, director of the poultry experiment station at the University of Arkansas, examined lighting preferences in broilers. The commercial-scale study, which was conducted at Tyson Foods’ Broiler Welfare Research Farm in Springdale, Ark., revealed that broilers do have lighting preferences, and giving them choice offers several benefits, including improved feed conversion ratio, reduced fear response and fewer welfare issues. Their findings could be a game changer for broiler welfare on a global scale. Inspiration from nature While the vast majority of commercial broiler barns provide uniform lighting conditions, in nature, Red Jungle Fowl live at the edge of and in rainforests where light filters through the canopy unevenly. Drawing inspiration from nature, Kang wanted to know if non-uniform artificial light could be used as a tool to promote broiler welfare and performance.
In 2016, he sought to answer this question through a series of pen trials. Intrigued by the results, Tyson Foods offered up its Broiler Welfare Research Farm to test the effects of gradient lighting in commercial-scale barns. Karen Christensen, Senior Director of Animal Welfare at Tyson, worked closely with Kang on the project. Broilers are diurnal in nature, which means they eat when the lights come on and rest when the lights are off. In most poultry barns, lighting programs offer 16 hours of light and eight hours of darkness. When the lights came on, the birds would immediately move to the feeders. In his initial experiments, in order to stimulate eating, Kang installed lighting...
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