Kassim H.G., Oyegunwa A.S., Ettu R..O. & Odusina A.O.
Abstract
An eight week study was conducted at the teaching and research farm of Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijebu Ode Nigeria to determine the effect of 30minutes weekly step wise increase in lighting for Isa brown point of lay pullets. Parameters assessed in this study were egg production, performance characteristics and volume of waste generated. A total of 100 Isa brown pullets of 16 weeks of age were randomly divided into 4 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment is further divided into 6 replicate of 4 birds each. The 4 treatments represent the duration of exposure of the birds to light on a daily basis (12hrs, 14hrs, 16hrs and 18hrs). The birds were tr ansferred from the floor to cage at 16weeks of age while 2 weeks was allowed for acclimatization of the birds to the new environment. At 18 weeks of age, the birds were exposed to 30minutes weekly increase in lighting until the maximum number of hours base d on treatment is reached. Treatment 1 (control) is exposed to normal daylight which average 12hours while treatment 2, 3 and 4 received 14, 16 and 18hours of light daily. From the result of the study birds that were reared under 14hours of daylight were t he first to come into lay at 19 weeks of age. Significant differences (p< 0.05) were observed in the feed intake per bird per week across the group. In week 1, the highest feed intake (530g) was obtained from birds exposed to 14hours of daylight. In week 8 however, feed intake in birds that received 12 and 14 hours of light were similar (844g) but higher than feed intake in birds that received 16hours (776g) and 18hours (792g) respectively. The mean values of body weight, weekly egg production and egg weigh t were all similar. In conclusion, the performance of pullets exposed to light improved with regard to feed intake, the onset of egg laying and number of eggs producedhile other performance indicators were not affected.