Lighting method for late stage of laying hens

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of light illumination methods for laying hens in later egg production stage.The method comprises: in the breeding process of laying hens in later egg production stage, using light source to emit blue light illumination or blue light and white light illumination to irradiate laying hens, so that the illumination can improve eggshell quality.The method of the application can up-regulate the expression of CaBP-D28k gene in eggshell gland of laying hens in later production stage, improve the ability of eggshell calcium deposition, regulate the secretion of parathyroid hormone PTH, calcitonin CT and other hormones, maintain the balance of blood calcium and blood phosphorus, and effectively improve the strength, thickness and weight of eggshell, so as to improve the eggshell quality of eggs produced by laying hens.The application can improve the calcium and phosphorus absorption capacity of laying hens, maintain the balance of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, and has low energy consumption, green energy-saving and environment-friendly advantages.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a lighting method, specifically to a lighting method for the later stages of egg production in laying hens, within the field of light environment control in poultry farming. Background Technology

[0002] my country's egg-laying hen industry ranks among the world's leading positions. As the industry shifts from scale expansion to quality and efficiency, extending the laying period is an inevitable trend. Eggshell quality is a crucial indicator of egg quality and affects all aspects of egg production, storage, transportation, and sales. Previous studies have found that eggshell quality is related to factors such as age, breed, feed nutrition, and environmental control. Specifically, during the peak to late laying period of hens, eggshell quality declines with age, severely impacting the economic benefits of egg-laying hen farming. This decline in eggshell quality, especially in the breeding of hens with exceptionally long laying periods, is a problem that urgently needs to be addressed in actual production.

[0003] Research on improving eggshell quality mainly focuses on three approaches: breed selection, feed improvement, and environmental control. However, breed selection alone struggles to control eggshell quality in the later stages of laying, while feed improvement methods are relatively expensive to develop and pose certain food safety risks. Light environment, as a crucial component of poultry environmental control, is a low-cost, green, and safe method of environmental regulation. Furthermore, due to the unique visual structure of poultry, their light sensitivity far exceeds that of humans and other mammals, and existing research has demonstrated that the light environment can influence poultry physiological functions. Blue light, as a short-wavelength light, can effectively alleviate stress levels, and studies have also shown that blue light can affect calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Eggshell formation is the most efficient calcification process in nature, and commercial laying hens have highly active calcium metabolism, providing a potential pathway to improve eggshell quality.

[0004] Therefore, the guiding principle of this invention is to address the decline in eggshell quality in the later stages of egg production in hens with extremely long laying periods by using LED blue light to regulate calcium and phosphorus metabolism and thus improve eggshell quality. The specific details of this research include how to set the various indicators of the light environment, such as spectrum, photoperiod, and light intensity, as well as detecting the improvement effect on eggshell quality after irradiation and verifying and analyzing hormone secretion and gene expression levels. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the problems existing in the background art, this invention provides a method for improving eggshell quality in the later stages of egg production in laying hens through lighting. This method utilizes LED blue light with a wavelength of 380–505 nm to effectively improve eggshell quality.

[0006] The technical solution adopted in this invention is:

[0007] The method for lighting hens during the later stages of egg production according to the present invention is as follows:

[0008] During the later stages of egg production, use a light source to emit blue light or a combination of blue and white light to irradiate the hens.

[0009] The term "late egg-laying period" specifically refers to hens that are 300 days or older after they start laying eggs.

[0010] The light source is specifically an incandescent lamp, LED lamp, OLED lamp, quantum LED lamp, or fluorescent lamp, but is not limited to these; other light sources that can produce blue light can also be used.

[0011] The blue light wavelength of the blue light illumination is 380–505 nm.

[0012] The light intensity of the blue light and white light illumination is 1–50 lx, and the irradiance is 0.01–0.5 W / m². 2 The light intensity can generally be 1-20 lx, but is not limited to this range.

[0013] In the process of irradiating laying hens with blue light or a combination of blue and white light emitted from a light source, the duration of daily irradiation can be set from 1 to 24 hours, depending on actual needs.

[0014] Under a specific photoperiod, blue light irradiation can cover the entire photoperiod or any time period within the photoperiod. The specific photoperiod is determined according to actual production conditions.

[0015] In the process of irradiating laying hens with blue light or a combination of blue and white light, the ratio of light period to dark period for each day of irradiation is 16:8, but is not limited to this.

[0016] During the irradiation period, the duration of blue light irradiation shall not be less than 1 hour and not more than 16 hours, and the duration of white light irradiation shall not be more than 15 hours.

[0017] An application of a lighting method for improving eggshell quality in egg-laying hen farming during the later stages of egg production.

[0018] The aforementioned light exposure improves eggshell quality. Specifically, in actual egg-laying hen farming, it can upregulate the expression of the CaBP-D28k gene in the eggshell gland, enhance the calcium deposition capacity of the eggshell gland, and simultaneously regulate the secretion of parathyroid hormone and calcitonin, control bone calcium turnover, maintain blood calcium and phosphorus balance, and thus improve eggshell quality.

[0019] The term "laying hens" refers to commercial laying hens, but can be extended to all egg-laying poultry.

[0020] The term "late egg production period" refers to the period following the peak egg production of laying hens, but it is not limited to this and can be extended to the entire egg production cycle. The lighting requirements for laying hens can be applied to the rearing process of caged laying hens in large-scale operations, but are not limited to this, and can also be extended to the rearing process of free-range laying hens.

[0021] This invention discovered a relationship between the illumination conditions of a light source and the eggshell quality of eggs produced by laying hens. By using special lighting as ambient light based on this relationship, the eggshell quality was significantly improved.

[0022] The beneficial effects of this invention are:

[0023] 1. The method of this invention uses special light as the ambient light in the later stage of egg production in laying hens. It can upregulate the expression of the CaBP-D28k gene in the shell gland during the later stage of egg production, improve the calcium deposition capacity of the shell gland, regulate the secretion of hormones such as parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin (CT), maintain the balance of blood calcium and phosphorus, and effectively improve the eggshell strength, thickness and weight of eggs, thereby improving the eggshell quality of eggs produced by laying hens.

[0024] 2. This invention can improve the calcium and phosphorus absorption capacity of laying hens, maintain the calcium and phosphorus metabolic balance, and has the advantages of low energy consumption, green energy saving and environmental friendliness. Attached Figure Description

[0025] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the light environment control system of the present invention;

[0026] In the picture: 1. Controller, 2. Light source, 3. Laying hen, 4. Stackable chicken cage. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The actual use of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

[0028] Specific embodiments of the present invention are as follows:

[0029] Example 1:

[0030] During the rearing process of laying hens after egg production, the LED light source 2 emitted light with a wavelength of 459nm and an average irradiance of 0.18W / m² was controlled daily via controller 1. 2 Blue light was used as ambient light to irradiate laying hens for 16 hours over 21 days. The highest and lowest temperatures were 30°C and 24°C, respectively, and the highest and lowest humidity were 80% and 60%, respectively.

[0031] Comparative Example 1:

[0032] Using the same conditions as in Example 1, the laying hens 3 were illuminated daily with white light emitted from LED lamps as ambient light, and the white light spectrum was the normal full wavelength spectrum.

[0033] Eighty-sixty-four 88-week-old Lohmann Grey laying hens were selected as the test subjects for Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, and placed in stacked chicken cages (4). Both Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 had six replicates, with 12 cages per replicate and six chickens per cage. LED lights were installed in the aisles of the breeding area, and other light sources were removed around the perimeter of the breeding area to avoid interference. There were two such breeding areas, one for Example 1 and the other for Comparative Example 1.

[0034] On the 21st day after light treatment, 12 eggs were randomly collected from each treatment group for a total of 72 eggs per group. 70 eggs were selected and numbered to test relevant indicators such as eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, and eggshell weight.

[0035] The test results are shown in Table 1:

[0036] Table 1. Eggshell quality under 21 days of white and blue light irradiation

[0037] Group Eggshell strength (kgf) Eggshell thickness (mm) Eggshell weight (g) LED white light 4.17±0.92 0.3534±0.029 5.909±0.592 LED blue light 4.64±0.95 0.3709±0.0267 6.113±0.533 P 0.003 ＜0.001 0.03

[0038] The results showed that 21 days of blue light irradiation significantly improved eggshell strength (P<0.01), eggshell thickness (P<0.001), and eggshell weight (P<0.05), effectively improving the eggshell quality of produced eggs.

[0039] Example 2:

[0040] During the rearing process of laying hens after egg production, the LED light source 2 emitted light with a wavelength of 459nm and an average irradiance of 0.18W / m² was controlled daily via controller 1. 2 Blue light was used as ambient light to irradiate laying hens for 16 hours over 63 days. The highest and lowest temperatures were 26°C and 18°C, respectively, and the highest and lowest humidity were 80% and 60%, respectively.

[0041] Comparative Example 2:

[0042] Using the same conditions as in Example 1, the laying hens 3 were illuminated daily with white light emitted from LED lamps as ambient light, and the white light spectrum was the normal full wavelength spectrum.

[0043] One hundred and thirty-four 74-week-old Jingfen No. 6 laying hens were selected as the test subjects for Example 2 and Comparative Example 2, and placed in stacked chicken cages 4. Both Example 2 and Comparative Example 2 had seven replicates, with each replicate consisting of 12 cages and eight chickens per cage. LED lights were installed in the passageways of the breeding area, and other light sources were removed around the breeding area to avoid interference.

[0044] On the 63rd day after light treatment, 11 eggs were randomly collected from each treatment group for a total of 77 eggs per group. 75 of these eggs were selected and numbered to test relevant indicators such as eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, and eggshell weight.

[0045] At 9:00 AM on day 64 of the experiment, two chickens were randomly selected from each group and each replicate to collect blood samples from the wing vein. After centrifugation, the upper serum layer was removed to detect the levels of Ca, P, PTH, and CT. From the chickens from which blood samples were collected, six chickens were randomly selected from each group and euthanized by neck dislocation. Eggshell gland samples were then collected to detect the expression of related genes.

[0046] The test results are shown in Tables 2 and 3:

[0047] Table 2 Eggshell quality under 63 days of white and blue light irradiation

[0048] Group Eggshell strength (kgf) Eggshell thickness (mm) Eggshell weight (g) LED white light 3.50±0.94 0.3681±0.0266 5.706±0.513 LED blue light 4.00±0.84 0.3793±0.0291 6.065±0.526 P ＜0.001 0.02 ＜0.001

[0049] Table 3. Blood parameters and relative gene expression levels of laying hens under 63 days of white and blue light irradiation.

[0050]

[0051] The results showed that 63 days of blue light irradiation significantly improved eggshell strength (P < 0.001), eggshell thickness (P < 0.05), and eggshell weight (P < 0.001), effectively improving eggshell quality in laying hens. Furthermore, blue light treatment significantly upregulated the expression of the CaBP-D28k gene in the eggshell gland (P < 0.05), enhancing calcium deposition capacity in the shell gland. Simultaneously, blue light treatment regulated the balance of parathyroid hormone and calcitonin in laying hens (P < 0.05), maintaining serum calcium (P > 0.05) and phosphorus (P > 0.05) levels.

[0052] The above results indicate that LED blue light irradiation can upregulate the expression of the shell gland calcium transporter gene, improve the shell gland calcium deposition capacity, and effectively improve the eggshell quality of produced eggs (P < 0.05). Simultaneously, this lighting method can regulate the secretion of calcium and phosphorus metabolism-related hormones, control bone calcium balance, and maintain blood calcium and phosphorus levels. This method helps improve eggshell quality in the later stages of laying hen production, prolong the laying period, and increase the economic benefits of the industry.

Claims

1. A method of lighting for a laying hen in a late stage of egg production, characterized by: The method is as follows: In the breeding process of the laying hens in the post-egg production period, the laying hens are irradiated by using a light source to emit blue light irradiation or blue light and white light irradiation, so that the expression of the eggshell gland calcium transporter gene of the laying hens in the post-egg production period is up-regulated, the eggshell quality of the produced eggs is improved, and the egg production period is prolonged. The post-egg production period of the laying hens is specifically more than 300 days after the laying hens produce eggs. In the light period of the irradiation, the length of the irradiation of the blue light is not less than 1 h and not more than 16 h, and the length of the irradiation of the white light is not more than 15 h.

2. The lightening method for the later stage of laying hens according to claim 1, characterized in that: The light source is specifically an incandescent lamp, an LED lamp, an OLED lamp, a quantum LED lamp or a fluorescent lamp.

3. The lightening method for the later stage of laying hens according to claim 1, characterized in that: The blue light band of the blue light irradiation is 380-505 nm.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The light intensity of the blue light irradiation and the white light irradiation is 1-50 lx.

5. The lighting method for the later stage of laying hens according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the process of irradiating the laying hens by using the light source to emit blue light irradiation or blue light and white light irradiation, the length of the irradiation of the light source per day is 1-24 h.

6. The lighting method for the later stage of laying hens according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the process of irradiating the laying hens by using the light source to emit blue light irradiation or blue light and white light irradiation, the ratio of the light period to the dark period of the irradiation per day is 16:

8.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6 for improving the eggshell quality of the produced eggs in the breeding of the laying hens.

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