https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3856 Effect of a Broiler-Specific Light Spectrum on Growth Performance and Adrenocortical Activity in Chickens: A Pilot Study on a Commercial Farm Galosi, Livio Livio Galosi 0000-0001-5094-8359 Todini, Luca Luca Todini 0000-0003-2820-6388 Menchetti, Laura Laura Menchetti 0000-0001-8500-7970 Carbajal, Annaïs Annaïs Carbajal 0000-0002-4339-6661 Palme, Rupert Rupert Palme 0000-0001-9466-3662 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Ruggiero, Nicola Nicola Ruggiero Falconi, Roberto Roberto Falconi Roncarati, Alessandra Alessandra Roncarati 0000-0002-8926-3362 MDPI journal article open access eng This study evaluated the effect of a broiler-specific light spectrum on productive performance corticosterone (fCC) and androgen dehydroepiandrosterone (fDHEA) concentrations in feathers, and glucocorticoid (GCMs) and androgen (AMs) metabolites in droppings of broilers. Two groups of female Ross 308 broilers were reared under white LED (WL, n = 9000) and broiler-specific LED (BSL, n = 9000) lights. The body weight (BW) of 150 randomly selected animals/groups was measured weekly. Droppings and feathers were collected at the end of the cycle (29 days) from 20 animals/group. The BSL group showed higher final BW than WL (1407 ± 11 vs. 1341 ± 15 g, respectively; p< 0.001) and higher indices of uniformity (76.8% vs. 61.2% animals in the 10% around the mean, respectively; p< 0.001). No difference between groups was found in fCC and fDHEA concentrations or in the fCC-fDHEA, indicating similar long-term HPA axis activity during the cycle. A higher concentration of GCMs was found in the BSL group, indicating higher glucocorticoid secretion before sampling, with neither a difference in AMs nor in GCMs-AMs. Finally, there was a positive correlation between fCC and fDHEA and between GCMs and AMs (p< 0.01). Our findings suggest that the use of broiler-specific light improved the productivity performances of chickens without long-term consequences on HPA activation. However, the results of this pilot study in a commercial farm setting must be interpreted with caution and need confirmation Quality-Of-Life Monochromatic Light Corticosterone Metabolites Wild Songbird Stress Dehydroepiandrosterone Plasma Birds Dhea Green http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:3856/download 10.3390/vetsci11120618 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605 application/pdf Veterinary Sciences issn:2306-7381 VoR Veterinary Sciences 11 12 957.34 kB 2024