Light demand characteristics, production performance, and changes in the feeding patterns of broilers

Poultry is a light-sensitive animal and the light environment has an important influence on the growth and development of these animals. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of the light environment on various physiological indicators of poultry but seldom explored the light demand characteristics of broilers under free selection. This experiment mainly studied the light demand characteristics of broilers under a yellow LED light environment and the influence of different breeding densities [low-density (2.5 broilers/m²), high-density (7.5 broilers/m²)] on the production performance and diet characteristics of broilers. Studies showed that the production performance indexes of low-density groups are higher than those of high-density groups. The feed and water consumption in the light area of the two experimental groups were significantly higher than those in the dark area, which means that the broilers showed a great preference for the light area. However, as the age of the broilers increased, the food and water consumption of the broilers decreased, indicating that broilers had a lower preference for light in the middle and late stages of growth. The statistical results for the residence frequency distribution characteristics showed that broiler chickens had different light requirements at different growth stages under the condition of active selection: 1) low-density breeding environment: 23.8L (light):0.2D (dark) for chicks and 22.3L:1.7D for adult broilers; 2) high-density breeding environment: 22.6L:1.4D for chicks and 15.0L:9.0D for adult broilers. This study will provide a reference for the optimization and control of light environment in broiler breeding