The effects of the duration and onset of light stimulation during incubation on the behavior, plasma melatonin levels, and productivity of broiler chickens.

Light stimulation during incubation can affect the behavior, health, and performance of poultry posthatch. However, there has been relatively little work systematically assessing the pattern of light stimulation needed to produce these effects or the mechanism underlying them. We conducted 2 experiments to assess the effects of duration and onset of light exposure during incubation on Cobb 500 broiler chickens. In the first, eggs (n = 1,404) were incubated under photoperiods of either 0 h of light and 24 h of darkness (0 L:24 D), 1 h of light and 23 h of darkness (1 L:23 D), 6 h of light and 18 h of darkness (6L:18D), or 12 h of light and 12 h of darkness (12L:12D). In the second, eggs (n = 1,008) were incubated in either complete darkness or under 12L:12D, which was applied either for the entire incubation period or with light onset beginning at either 7 or 14 d of incubation. Broilers were then housed in floor pens under a 12L:12D cycle posthatch. Measurements included performance outcomes, plasma melatonin, general behavioral activity assessed using passive infrared detection, and feeding activity assessed using automated continuous monitoring of feed intake at wk 5 of age. There were no treatment differences in hatchability, mortality, growth, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, overall feeding behavior activity, or general behavioral activity over a 24-h period in either experiment. However, broilers incubated under 12L:12D fed more (P < 0.05) than the 0 L:24 D broilers during the first 3 h after the lights came on in Exp. 1 and during the first hour after the lights came on in Exp. 2. In Exp. 1, general activity levels measured using passive infrared detection at night also differed (P = 0.05), with 0 L:24 D more active than 12L:12D. There was a treatment difference between the 0 L:12 D and 12 L:12 D in their plasma melatonin rhythms during d 19 of incubation, but this difference had disappeared when broilers were sampled at wk 5 posthatch. The results of this study indicate that providing 12 h of light during incubation can have a long-lasting effect on the diurnal rhythms of behavior, although the mechanism underlying this does not appear to be related to a persistent change in melatonin rhythm.