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Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Lighting is one of the important environmental factors in pig breeding. This study aims to clarify the optimal light intensity for gilts in an artificial light environment. A test house was constructed to evaluate the preference of gilts for light intensity. LED white light (400-700 nm) was used as the artificial light source in the experimental pigsty. Four light intensities were adopted as 40, 100, 350, and 1 200 lx in the test. According to the light intensity, 40 and 100 lx were defined as the group of weak light intensity, while 350 and 1 200 lx were the group of strong light intensity. The light scheme was adjusted for each pen every seven days in a cycle, with a light duration of 16 h (lights on at 05:00 and off at 21:00). A total of 24 gilts with similar ages and weighs were selected from the same pigsty as the experimental subjects. A 4-d pre-experiment and a 28 d trial were then conducted to explore the preference selection of gilts for the light intensity in an artificial light environment. The evaluation indicators were taken as the spatiotemporal distribution, behavioral activity level, feeding amount, and feeding frequency of the gilts. The industrial cameras and YOLOv8n structure were used to record and analyze the activity status of pigs during the experiment. The results showed that the average accuracies of the trained image recognition model for pig standing, sitting, lying and feeding behavior recognition were 97.5%, 90.3%, 98.5% and 95.2%, respectively. According to the spatiotemporal distribution of the pig population, there was a significant preference for a light intensity of 100 lx in the lighting period (P<0.05). The number of pigs also accounted for 29.33% ± 1.14% of the total. Furthermore, the rhythmic patterns were found in the preference for the rest light intensities. There was a significantly higher preference for 40 lx in the morning and evening periods, compared with 350 lx and 1 200 lx (P<0.05), corresponding to the week light environment of the transition between morning and evening in nature. The activity levels were also determined for six hours, after the lights were turned on. The pigs shared significantly higher activity levels in the higher light intensity groups (350 lx: 37.97% ± 3.47% and 1200 lx: 35.42% ± 4.04%), compared with the lower ones (40 lx: 27.90% ± 8.44% and 100 lx: 23.94% ± 3.79%). Since most of the pigs were lying in the house, the overall distribution of pigs in the inactive state was similar to the number distribution of pigs. While there was no outstanding number of active pigs in each light intensity. The pigs also preferred to take a break at noon. In free feeding, the feed consumption was the highest under 1200 lx illumination, followed by 350 lx group. In feeding behavior, the average daily feeding time of each gilt was (60.50±1.31) min in this experiment. And the feeding time of gilts under the 350 lx and 1 200 lx was significantly longer than that of 40 lx (P<0.05). Therefore, it was recommended to gradually adjust the lighting intensity using a dim-to-bright approach, with a primary light intensity of 100 lx. During the 3 hours before and after the lights were turned on, a lower light environment of 40 lx was used to avoid excessive light stimulation. Additionally, the 2 h duration of higher light intensity (350 lx) can promote the pig activity levels. The finding can also provide a theoretical foundation for the precise control of the lighting environment for gilt facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of South China Agricultural University is the property of Gai Kan Bian Wei Hui and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Commercial enriched colony cages have become commonplace for the natural mating of layer breeders in China in recent years. It is now generally accepted that a nest box is essential to ensure the welfare requirements of laying hens in the internal environment of colony cages. Specifically, the LED light environment of a laying nest depends on various factors, including the position, color, substrate, enclosure, and light intensity in the nest box. Therefore, the utilization rate of a nest can be improved via the evaluation on the preference selection of layer breeders in the internal light environment of a nest box. Taking a commercial layer breeder farm in Handan, Hebei province, China, as a research object, this study aims to investigate the effects of 3 LED light colors (white 400~700 nm: WL, red 585~690 nm: RL, blue 460~490 nm: BL) and 2 light intensities (5 lx: L1, 30 lx: L2) in the nest box on the nest choice of hens using preference selection index method. The nests with no light were termed as the control group (DK). The experimental house was with 4 rows of 4-tier double-sided colony cages (304 cages in total) along the length of a house. Each cage was in the size of 4.80 × 1.20 × 0.71 m (L × W × H), holding 10 roosters and 90 laying hens. 28 identical cages were selected to evaluate at the fourth tier in the house. 7 treatments were divided into WL-L1, WL-L2, RL-L1, RL-L2, BL-L1, BL-L2, DK, to compare that in a randomized block design, where each row had a replicate for each treatment. The specific measurements were made on the number of eggs laid in the nest and on the floor, as well as the nesting and agonistic behavior in the nest. The results showed that there were significant effects of light color, light intensity and their interaction on the number of nest eggs, and the agonistic behavior of egg laying (P<0.05). 1) The proportion of nest eggs in the WL-L2 and BL-L2 treatment was much higher than that in other light treatments (P<0.05), whereas, in the RL groups, the number of nest eggs was much lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). At the end of 33 weeks, the proportion of nest eggs in the WL-L2 and BL-L2 groups were 91.5±3.4% and 93.2±4.5%, respectively. However, there was no significant difference in the egg production among all groups. 2) The WL-L2 and BL-L2 treatment significantly improved the percentage of hens in the nest, the number of sitting events, the frequencies of scratching and rotating, as well as the duration of hens without egg laying. Nevertheless, the number of nest visits, the ratio of nest visits/nest eggs, and the duration of exploring were much lower than that in other groups (P<0.05). 3) In the BL-L2 treatment, the frequencies of threats and aggressive pecks were higher than that in WL-L2, but not significant correlation, whereas, the frequencies of feather pecking reached the highest among all groups (P<0.05). In the WL-L2 and BL-L2 treatments, the frequencies of fights and displacements in the nest were much higher than that in other groups. 4) The percentages of eggs laid varied over time during each hour from the time lights came on, regardless of the treatment with the highest number laid between 06:30 and 08:30 (P<0.05). The highest rates of agonistic behavior occurred with the peak time of lay in the nest. In the WL-L2 and BL-L2 treatments, the distribution of laying times for nest eggs was much less evenly than that in other groups (P<0.05). Therefore, the change of internal light environment in a nest box can be used to enhance the nest utilization rate. A stronger preference for the layers can be the high intensity of LED white and blue light. There were different requirements for the light environment in different behavioral demands of layers. It is suggested to select the sub-area illumination according to the behavioral requirements of layer breeders in the natural mating colony cages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Due to the increasing consumer concern for animal welfare and growing labor costs. A production practice that has been widely adopted by many commercial farms in China is the use of natural mating colony cage systems for parent-stock (PS) layer breeders. Although the hens in this type of colony cage can express their natural mating behavior and have broader activity space compared with that of the conventional artificial insemination cages, the environment of the colony cages is still relatively barren and invariant. Environmental enrichment devices, such as nest boxes are absent. Behavioral problems, such as feather pecking and cloacal cannibalism are serious in the system, which subsequently reduce the fertility rate of layer breeders and cause severe health, welfare and economic problems. 2160 beak-trimmed Hy-Line brown parent-stock layer breeders were used in the present study to investigate the application of nest boxes in natural mating colony cages for layer breeders and the effect of nest provisions on feather pecking behaviors and physiological stress, which aimed at providing data support for the development and optimization of such breeding cage systems, and improving the health and welfare level of layer breeders. Each experimental cage accommodated 90 layers and 10 roosters, providing each bird 57 600 cm2 floor areas. Three different types of nest boxes were provided before onset of lay, Nest1 (length × width × height, 90 cm ×40 cm × 60 cm), Nest2 (45 cm ×40 cm × 60 cm), Nest3 (70 cm × 52 cm × 60 cm). Each treatment was replicated in 6 cages along the length of the house at the fourth tier. The number of eggs laid in the nest and on the floor, nesting behaviors and pecking behaviors were observed. Blood samples were collected and basal plasma concentrations of corticosterone, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), 5-HT were measured. The results showed that: 1) Through a sufficient time to accustom to the nests, the nest boxes applied were well used by the hens. The ratio of nest eggs were 80.5%±7.8%, 67.4%±8.1% and 87.3%±7.6% respectively for Nest1, Nest2, Nest3 at 32 weeks of hen age. The ratio of nest eggs, the number of hens, nest visits, and sitting events in Nest1 and Nest3 were significantly higher than that of Nest2 (P<0.05). There were no significant difference in the duration of nest visits of laid hens in the nests, (51.3±11.7), (49.8±11.3) and (53.5±11.3) for Nest1, Nest2, Nest3 respectively; 2) The control groups (P=0.003) and Nest1 (P=0.035) showed more aggressive pecks given than the Nest3. For aggressive pecks received, the control groups were higher than the Nest1 (P=0.015). For severe feather pecks given, control groups were significantly higher than Nest1 (P<0.001) and Nest3 (P<0.001), Nest2 were significantly higher than Nest3 (P=0.030). The gentle feather pecks given of control groups were significantly more frequent than Nest1 (P=0.015), Nest2 (P=0.002), Nest3 (P=0.024). It was noticed that less gentle feather pecks received was shown in Nest 3 compared with control groups (P=0.012); 3) No significant differences were found in the concentration of triiodothyronine, thyroxine, and 5-HT between control groups and treatment groups. The exception was the significantly higher concentration of corticosterone of birds in control groups compared with treatment groups (P<0.05). Overall mortality for control groups and Nest2 were significantly higher than that of Nest1 and Nest3 (P<0.05). Mortality from cannibalism and vent pecking was significantly higher (P<0.05) in control groups than treatment groups (P<0.05). Overall, the results indicated that the colony nests, such as Nest1 and Nest3 could satisfy the nesting requirements of layers during the laying period. The provision of nest boxes in the colony cage system could be regarded as environmental enrichment device, which not only satisfied the expression of natural nesting behavior of laying hens, but also reduced feather pecking behaviors, fearfulness and physiological stress. Nest boxes can provide a supernumerary profit of constructing microenvironments that may be perceived as more safe, thus stimulating the performance of comfort behaviors and ultimately increase welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering is the property of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)