ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND EGG LAYING IN  POULTRY

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AND EGG LAYING IN  POULTRY

Sheikh Uzma Farooq¹, Aditya Sharma², Prince Chauhan³

¹Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Amritsar

²Department of Veterinary Pathology, Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Amritsar

³Department of Animal Nutrition, Khalsa College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Amritsar

ABSTRACT: In today’s time, more than one – fifth of the earth’s surface experiences nocturnal anthropogenic illumination. The first report of artificial lighting dates back to 1889. Artificial lighting idea has been accepted globally and is being adopted by poultry men with open hands.

INTRODUCTION: After the amazing invention of electric light, the extent and luminosity of artificial light at night (ALAN) has been spreading across the globe .The egg production by poultry is mainly influenced by intensity and length of light received by the bird daily. Light has stimulatory effect on anterior lobe of pituitary gland through optic nerve for the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone. The light passes through skull, skin and feathers. FSH stimulates growth of ovarian follicles.

TYPES OF LIGHT:

1. Incandescent : cheapest light source
2. Fluorescent: 3 to 4 times more efficient than Incandescent light.
3. Mercury vapour : long life
4. Compare fluorescent (CF) lighting: more energy efficient as it uses one fifth of the energy used by fluorescent.

LIGHT MANAGEMENT:

The fashion in which lights are installed in a poultry house has an important role to play in their efficiency. Important points in installing light bulbs in a poultry house are as follows:

1. Bulbs shouldn’t be hanged by a cord in an open house.
2. Clean bulbs should be used as bulbs with dirt emit 1/3^rdless amount of light than a clean bulb.
3. Cleaning of light bulbs should be done once in two weeks.
4. In a cage system, the bulbs should be installed in such a way that the rays of light emitted from bulb should fall directly on the feed and on the birds.
5. In deep litter system , bulb should be placed at 7-8’ height whereas in cage system, it should be kept in aisle.
6. The distance between two bulbs should ne one and a half times the distance from the bulb to the level of bird.
7. Flat type reflectors with rounded edges should be used instead of cone shaped reflectors as cone shaped ones confine the light to a limited area.

LIGHT EFFECTS DURING GROWING PERIOD:

• Light restriction delays the sexual maturity by maximum 3 weeks and if feed restriction is combined with light restriction, sexual maturity can be restricted by 4 weeks.
• Decreasing length of light during growing period of birds will result in increase in the age of sexual maturity and also increase in egg production in first half of laying and will also lead to increase in the size of first eggs produced.

LIGHT EFFECTS DURING LAYING PERIOD:

• Brightness of light has an influence on egg production. At 20 lx , the egg production is greater than at 50 lx
• 16 hour light period is must during peak egg production.
• Birds reared under increased light period will produce more number of eggs due to more release of FSH and LH hormone.
• In layer houses, 1ft candle light intensity is necessary for proper egg production.
• Artificial light can be used either in morning or evening, or both morning and evening.
• Intermittent lighting can be used instead of direct lighting for longer periods as egg production increases when intermittent lighting is preferred.

CONCLUSION:

The length of light period should never increase for growing birds and the length of light period should never decrease for laying birds. Hens are more susceptible than grower birds to light changes and other environmental factors. Good layers are more resistant to light shock than poor layers. The time of oviposition is influenced by light period and management factors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• FMG Boshouwers, EllyNicaise British poultry science 34 (1), 11-19, 1993
• R Pyrzak, N Snapir, B Robinzon, G Goodman Poultry Science 63 (9), 1846-1850, 1984
• Wilbor O Wilson, Hans Abplanalp Poultry Science 35 (3), 532-538, 1956

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