July 26,2016
Dr. Aaron Stephan
Research Scientist, ONCE Inc.
Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have conducted a series of independent studies testing the effects of lighting products on the productivity, health and welfare of broilers. They have found that ONCE Inc. LEDs were either equivalent or out-performed all other bulbs by every measure.
ONCE Inc. lights showed a statistically significant (3-5%) increase in body weights compared to incandescent light bulbs—higher than any other LED bulb tested (Olanrewaju et al., 2015a). A subsequent study comparing ONCE bulbs to a different LED brand as well as to a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb also demonstrated that ONCE bulbs were the only light bulb to be statistically superior to incandescent bulbs, resulting in higher-weight birds (Olanrewaju et al., 2016). These differences arise from altering the physiology of the bird—ONCE lights were shown to alter several physiological markers in the blood (Olanrewaju et al., 2015b). No differences were seen between bulbs in terms of animal welfare characteristics including mortality rates, corticosterone levels, immune responses, and eye development (Olanrewaju et al., 2015a, 2016).
These results, combined with the energy savings of ONCE LED lights led the researchers to conclude:
“This study shows the positive impact on profits to commercial poultry facilities to reduce energy costs and optimize production efficiency without compromise to the welfare of broilers grown to heavy weights.” (Olanrewaju et al., 2016).
References:
Olanrewaju, H.A., Purswell, J.L., Maslin, W.R., Collier, S.D., and Branton, S.L. (2015a). Effects of color temperatures (kelvin) of LED bulbs on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and ocular development indices of broilers grown to heavy weights. Poult. Sci. 94, 338–344.
Olanrewaju, H.A., Purswell, J.L., Collier, S.D., and Branton, S.L. (2015b). Effects of color temperatures (Kelvin) of LED bulbs on blood physiological variables of broilers grown to heavy weights. Poult. Sci. 94, 1721–1728.
Olanrewaju, H.A., Miller, W.W., Maslin, W.R., Collier, S.D., Purswell, J.L., and Branton, S.L. (2016). Effects of light sources and intensity on broilers grown to heavy weights. Part 1: Growth performance, carcass characteristics, and welfare indices. Poult. Sci. 95, 727–735.