Aggressive and severe feather pecking in brown and white feathered leghorn pullets - Will blue light during brooding and rearing improve future egg production?

棕色和白色羽毛来航小母鸡的攻击性和严重啄羽行为 - 育雏和饲养过程中的蓝光会提高未来的产蛋量吗？

• 批准号: 578634-2022
• 负责人: SchweanLardner, KarenKV
• 金额: $ 2.12万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743514
• 关键词: Aggressive; severe; feather; pecking; brown

Aggressive feather pecking and cannibalism are significant issues affecting animal welfare and production economics in the table egg industry. Numerous mitigation techniques have been utilized, including feed form, energy levels, beak treatment, housing systems, light intensity, etc. Although these practices may reduce the incidence/severity, none stop the behaviour from occurring. This is even more concerning as producers move towards floor rearing pullets, in preparation for more extensive housing systems for laying hens. Recently, our research team completed a study comparing broilers reared on light colour treatments (blue, green, or white light) provided by LED bulbs. Light intensity was equalized by measuring with a "clux" (corrected lux, or chicken lux) meter, which measures intensity based on bird, rather than human, visual capacity. Minimal benefit of light colour was noted for production or health parameters, but blue light dramatically changed behaviour and bird affect (fear and stress). Broilers reared under blue light were less stressed and fearful than those reared under green or white light. More comfort behaviours were noted, and birds appeared calmer. Part of the reason this may have occurred is that the broilers had improved visual ability under blue light than under white light, which differs from the old industry verbiage that the use of blue light reduces aggression because birds do not see as well. In general, light components are thought to have similar effects on birds, although slight differences are noted between turkeys and broilers. If this is indeed the case, then we are particularly interested in understanding if utilizing light color, specifically blue light, could reduce the aggressive pecking damage that occurs in pullet flocks. It has been shown that light colour can have a positive effect on reproduction in laying hens. To the authors' knowledge, it is unknown if blue light during the brooding and rearing phase would negatively affect onset of egg production or egg production level as research is lacking in this area.

侵略性羽毛啄食和食人主义是影响鸡蛋行业动物福利和生产经济学的重大问题。已经使用了许多缓解技术，包括饲料形式，能量水平，喙处理，住房系统，光强度等。尽管这些实践可能会降低发生率/严重性，但没有一个阻止行为发生。随着生产商朝着地板饲养的小推力迈进，这更加令人担忧，以准备更广泛的住房系统。最近，我们的研究团队完成了一项研究，比较了由LED灯泡提供的浅色治疗（蓝色，绿色或白光）饲养的肉鸡。通过用“ crux”（校正的勒克斯或鸡肉勒克斯）计量测量的光强度均衡，该计量基于鸟类而不是人类的视觉容量来测量强度。对于生产或健康参数，浅色的益处最小，但是蓝光却发生了巨大变化的行为和鸟类影响（恐惧和压力）。在蓝光下饲养的肉鸡比在绿色或白光下饲养的肉鸡压力和恐惧较小。注意到更多的舒适行为，鸟类显得更加平静。这可能发生的部分原因是，肉鸡在蓝光下的视觉能力提高了，而白光下的视觉能力也与旧工业的说法不同，因为蓝光的使用会减少侵略性，因为鸟类也看不到。一般而言，尽管火鸡和肉鸡之间有轻微的差异，但人们认为光成分对鸟类有相似的影响。如果确实如此，那么我们特别有兴趣了解使用浅色，特别是蓝光，可以减少紫胶羊群中发生的攻击性啄食损害。已经表明，浅色可能对母鸡的繁殖产生积极影响。据作者所知，由于该领域缺乏研究，在繁殖和饲养阶段期间蓝光是否会对产量或卵产量水平产生负面影响。