Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens

ABSTRACT The present study had the objective of analysing the impact of the use of environmental enrichment (music and light stimuli), broiler sex, and age in broiler chickens’ weight during growth. The observational study was carried out on a commercial farm. The environmental enrichment consisted...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: FG Jacob, DA Salgado, IA Nää, MS Baracho
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fundação APINCO de Ciência e Tecnologia Avícolas 2020-09-01
Series:Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2020000200303&tlng=en
_version_ 1798020249097863168
author FG Jacob
DA Salgado
IA Nää
MS Baracho
author_facet FG Jacob
DA Salgado
IA Nää
MS Baracho
author_sort FG Jacob
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT The present study had the objective of analysing the impact of the use of environmental enrichment (music and light stimuli), broiler sex, and age in broiler chickens’ weight during growth. The observational study was carried out on a commercial farm. The environmental enrichment consisted of broilers’ stimulation by sound and light, and a house was kept without stimulus (control). The music stimuli consisted of different music styles and was played during the experiment to promote motivation for the birds. The light stimuli came from a coloured (red and green) LED strobe projector. Both stimuli were applied once a day for about 6 minutes, for five weeks. The broilers were weighed at the end of each week of growth. Throughout the growth period, broiler behaviours were analysed weekly through videos, and the leg disorders of the birds were put into score evaluations. The effects of the environmental enrichment type, gender, and age, and the probable interactions of these variables, on the weight of the broiler chickens were analysed by the comparative analysis of means, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey test of multiple comparisons. 7, 14, and 21 day old broiler chickens did not differ on body weight when compared with age, gender, and environmental enrichment (broiler house) (p>0.05). Males from 21 days of age had an increase in body weight when compared with females. Light enrichment presented the lowest body weight when compared with all studied houses, while the absence of enrichment presented the highest broiler weight.
first_indexed 2024-04-11T16:54:12Z
format Article
id doaj.art-692011d513754d87a848dd8e07b6ad7d
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1806-9061
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-11T16:54:12Z
publishDate 2020-09-01
publisher Fundação APINCO de Ciência e Tecnologia Avícolas
record_format Article
series Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science
spelling doaj.art-692011d513754d87a848dd8e07b6ad7d2022-12-22T04:13:20ZengFundação APINCO de Ciência e Tecnologia AvícolasBrazilian Journal of Poultry Science1806-90612020-09-0122210.1590/1806-9061-2019-1130Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler ChickensFG Jacobhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9276-7724DA Salgadohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5595-4640IA Näähttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0663-9377MS Barachohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0276-121XABSTRACT The present study had the objective of analysing the impact of the use of environmental enrichment (music and light stimuli), broiler sex, and age in broiler chickens’ weight during growth. The observational study was carried out on a commercial farm. The environmental enrichment consisted of broilers’ stimulation by sound and light, and a house was kept without stimulus (control). The music stimuli consisted of different music styles and was played during the experiment to promote motivation for the birds. The light stimuli came from a coloured (red and green) LED strobe projector. Both stimuli were applied once a day for about 6 minutes, for five weeks. The broilers were weighed at the end of each week of growth. Throughout the growth period, broiler behaviours were analysed weekly through videos, and the leg disorders of the birds were put into score evaluations. The effects of the environmental enrichment type, gender, and age, and the probable interactions of these variables, on the weight of the broiler chickens were analysed by the comparative analysis of means, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey test of multiple comparisons. 7, 14, and 21 day old broiler chickens did not differ on body weight when compared with age, gender, and environmental enrichment (broiler house) (p>0.05). Males from 21 days of age had an increase in body weight when compared with females. Light enrichment presented the lowest body weight when compared with all studied houses, while the absence of enrichment presented the highest broiler weight.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2020000200303&tlng=enBroiler productionbroiler welfare, music, light
spellingShingle FG Jacob
DA Salgado
IA Nää
MS Baracho
Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science
Broiler production
broiler welfare, music, light
title Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
title_full Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
title_fullStr Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
title_short Effect of Environmental Enrichment on the Body Weight in Broiler Chickens
title_sort effect of environmental enrichment on the body weight in broiler chickens
topic Broiler production
broiler welfare, music, light
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2020000200303&tlng=en
work_keys_str_mv AT fgjacob effectofenvironmentalenrichmentonthebodyweightinbroilerchickens
AT dasalgado effectofenvironmentalenrichmentonthebodyweightinbroilerchickens
AT ianaa effectofenvironmentalenrichmentonthebodyweightinbroilerchickens
AT msbaracho effectofenvironmentalenrichmentonthebodyweightinbroilerchickens