Effects of Light Color on Energy Expenditure and Behavior in Broiler Chickens

This study was conducted in order to investigate whether the presence of light or different colors of light would influence the energy expenditure and behavior of broiler chickens. Eight 8-week-old broiler chickens were adapted to a respiration chamber (Length, 28.5 cm; Height, 38.5 cm; Width, 44.0 cm) for one week prior to the initiation of the experiment. In experiment 1, energy expenditure and behavior of the chickens were analyzed in the presence or absence of light for four days. Chickens were exposed to 6 cycles of 2 h light/2 h dark period per day. In experiment 2, the broiler chickens that had been used in experiment 1 were used to evaluate the effect of 4 different wavelength light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the energy expenditure and behavior of broiler chickens. The LEDs used in this study had the following wavelength bands; white (control), red (618 to 635 nm), green (515 to 530 nm) and blue (450 to 470 nm). The chickens were randomly exposed to a 2-h LED light in a random and sequential order per day for 3 days. Oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the chickens were recorded using an open-circuit calorimeter system, and energy expenditure was calculated based on the collected data. The behavior of the chickens was analyzed based on following categories i.e., resting, standing, and pecking, and closed-circuit television was used to record these behavioral postures. The analysis of data from experiment 1 showed that the energy expenditure was higher (p<0.001) in chickens under light condition compared with those under dark condition. The chickens spent more time with pecking during a light period, but they frequently exhibited resting during a dark period. Experiment 2 showed that there was no significant difference in terms of energy expenditure and behavior based on the color of light (white, red, green, and blue) to which the chickens were exposed. In conclusion, the energy expenditure and behavior of broiler chickens were found to be strongly affected by the presence of light. On the other hand, there was no discernible difference in their energy expenditure and behavior of broiler chickens exposed to the different LED lights.