Effect of Intermittent Lighting and Time of Hatch on Large Broad-Breasted White Turkeys

To determine if intermittent lighting would reduce leg abnormalities in turkeys, males reared in intermittent lighting of 2 h light:4 h dark were compared to toms subjected to a low intensity, step-down lighting program (15-h photoperiod). Also, to determine if housing poults as soon as possible following hatch would affect later production characteristics, effects of four hatching treatments were assessed. Toms in intermittent as compared with low intensity, step-down lighting programs showed a significant reduction in the incidence of leg abnormalities. There were no significant differences in body weight, feed efficiency, mortality, tibial dyschondroplasia lesions, growth plate closure, and tarsometatarsal length and width for the two lighting programs. Toms exposed to intermittent lighting had heavier testes. It is concluded that intermittent lighting can be used in light-tight, environmentally enclosed turkey houses to reduce leg anomalies without affecting other production traits. Under the experimental conditions employed in the present study, there was no advantage to removing poults from incubator trays as they hatched, as hatching treatments had no effect on production traits of either turkey toms or hens.