The variety of hours turkeys are in darkness or in decreased lighting can have an effect on their well being and well-being, a current research from North Carolina State College (NC State) revealed.
Allison Pullin, assistant professor of animal welfare at NC State, gave an summary of the research on April 18 on the 2024 PEAK convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pullin accomplished this analysis alongside her collaborators, Jesse Grimes and Casey Nestor of NC State.
“Lighting is a significant element of administration that impacts welfare, and light-weight can have many alternative elements corresponding to depth, coloration in addition to the schedule,” Pullin defined. “As we speak, the main focus is on gentle schedules, or photoperiod, which is the size of the variety of hours or gentle, and the scotoperiod, which is the size of the darkish interval.”
Research methodology
In its research on the Talley Turkey Training Unit, NC State positioned Nicholas Choose hens in 16 rooms with impartial gentle management in one of many analysis barns (55 hens per room).
For the primary three days, all rooms had been supplied with steady 24 hour lighting per the breeder information. After that, the lighting was modified to use the scotoperiod remedies by the tip of the trial (4 rooms per remedy). One group was by no means uncovered to darkness. The opposite three had respective scotoperiods of two, 4 and eight midnights.
The turkeys had been evaluated at varied timepoints all through the 12-week trial in the next areas: manufacturing efficiency, damage prevalence, fearfulness and eye well being.
Manufacturing efficiency
When figuring out issues of manufacturing efficiency, hens had been weighed each three weeks to find out their common physique weight, physique weight achieve and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Additionally examined had been mortalities and cullings with these flocks.
Pullin reported that there was “no statistical distinction in weight on the finish of the trial, whatever the gentle interval we had been utilizing.”
The hens with 4 midnights had been the lightest, with a median weight of 8.89 kilograms. These with two midnights had been the heaviest, with a median weight of 9.28 kilograms, Pullin confirmed.
Equally, there was no materials variations in FCR amongst the turkeys raised with scotoperiods of differing lengths.
However when it got here to mortalities and cullings, that’s when the variations grew to become extra noticeable, she mentioned.
“The group that had the bottom mortality in that group had no darkish interval, after which the mortality basically doubled as soon as we began including in a darkish interval,” mentioned Pullin.
The teams of turkeys that had two- and four-hour darkish intervals had the very best incidence of moralities and cullings, she famous, at 10.5% and 11.8%, respectively. Nevertheless, the birds with an eight-hour scotoperiod had a 7.3% mortality fee, which whereas decrease than these with two and 4 midnights, was nonetheless greater than the 4.5% mortality fee for these by no means uncovered to darkness.
Pullin mentioned one presumed explanation for mortalities or the necessity to cull was that the birds had been subjected to injurious pecking.
“After we have a look at those that had a darkish interval, about half of the mortality and culls had been attributed to pecking. Then we see that the quantity will increase as we add extra midnights to the flock, so significantly when we get all the way down to that eight midnights, about three-quarters of the mortalities had been attributed to injurious pecking,” she mentioned. “So, the pecking was not solely our primary cause for culls, but it surely makes of a higher proportion of mortality as we add extra darkness.”
Harm prevalence
After the turkeys’ 12-week interval concluded, the researchers examined 777 hens for accidents, each by way of the place on their our bodies the accidents occurred, and the severity of these accidents.
The hens with the longest interval of darkness had probably the most minor head and neck accidents, with 10.4% of that flock displaying some minor damage, whereas these with a two-hour interval of darkness had the fewest at 6.1%.
The research confirmed 2.9% of these turkeys with a four-hour scotoperiod had the very best incidence of extreme head and neck accidents, whereas these with the eight-hour darkish interval had the bottom at 1%. However when whole accidents had been added up, these with eight midnights had considerably extra accidents at a fee of 11.4%. The group with the following most whole accidents was the one which had 4 midnights, with a prevalence fee of 9.2%.
For again and tail accidents, these with probably the most minor accidents had been within the group with 4 midnights, at a fee of 30.1%. These with no darkness had the fewest, with a fee of 16.4%. These with steady gentle additionally had the bottom prevalence of the extra extreme accidents at 3.8%. These with the eight-hour interval of darkness had the very best incidence of extra extreme accidents at 9.7%.
Pullin defined that turkeys usually peck the pinnacle and neck area for various causes than they peck at backs and tails. After they peck the pinnacle or necks of different turkeys, they do this out of aggression or as a show of dominance, whereas pecks on the backs or tails is extra a matter of “redirected foraging behaviors,” which will also be a results of a deficiency of diet or “one thing within the setting that birds are on the lookout for to satisfy some variety of both dietary or behavioral want.”
Allison Pullin, Ph.D.
Eye well being
After the 12-week interval was accomplished, many of the birds had been despatched to be processed, however the researchers did maintain some again so they may “do some ocular well being metrics” at 13 weeks.
These checks confirmed that hens reared with out a darkish interval have enlarged eyes when in comparison with those that had been uncovered to intervals of darkness. In the meantime, the diameter of their corneas was smaller on the typical, in addition to a barely smaller anterior-posterior depth.
Primarily based off of these outcomes, Pullin mentioned she beneficial a interval of at the least 4 midnights for correct eye well being.
Fearfulness
To judge turkeys’ fearfulness in relation to the quantity of instances they spend in the dead of night, the NC State group used two checks.
One was what was known as a “wing-flapping check.” On this check, the turkeys had been loosely held upright for 30 seconds to see how lengthy and what number of instances they might flap their wings in an effort to flee. On the identical time, they recorded the turkeys’ vocalizations.
Whatever the birds’ photoperiods and scotoperiods, all birds on the typical flapped about 15 instances over “a brief burst” of flapping for about two seconds. There was additionally no noticeable distinction during which group the turkeys had been a part of and their vocalizations.
The opposite check was a novel object check, during which they positioned an object within the turkeys’ environments that that they had by no means seen earlier than. On this case, it was a multicolored stick. This check has been used to measure fearfulness in quite a few species, and the item is to see how lengthy it takes them to strategy the item, what number of animals work together with it, and for a way lengthy do they work together with it.
Declaring that turkeys are naturally curious animals, birds from each group approached the stick inside 15 seconds, however these with both no darkish interval or solely two midnights took longer to really contact it.
That response could possibly be interpreted quite a few methods, Pullin mentioned.
“Is it actually an indicator of fearfulness or is it associated to imaginative and prescient processing? Presumably, it’s not essentially associated to concern,” she mentioned.
Pullin additionally famous that the upper charges of injurious pecking coupled with the quicker contact of the stick is also indicative of the chance that birds with an extended interval of darkness may need had extra sleep and subsequently have elevated exercise ranges.
