The impact of environmental factors in poultry farming cannot be ignored
In recent years, the production scale of the poultry farming industry has been continuously expanding, and farming techniques have been constantly updated. Many farming concepts that were never mentioned before have also been continuously proposed in recent years, including whether environmental factors affect the output of the farming industry. It has long been reported that massaging cattle to the sound of music can promote muscle growth in cattle, making the meat better, and such cattle can fetch a price several times higher than ordinary cattle. The following takes chicken farming as an example to list several ways the environment affects poultry, and how to control the farming environment.
I. The impact of the environment on poultry
The environmental impacts on poultry mainly include temperature, humidity, light, stocking density and other related factors. The impact of these factors on poultry is as important as the impact of mood on people. Only with a good mood can people be positive and healthy; only with a good environment can poultry output be guaranteed.
1. Temperature
Temperature is the environmental factor with the greatest impact on poultry, and can affect indicators such as chicken growth rate, feed utilization rate and egg production. For young poultry, because their thermoregulatory function is not fully developed, they cannot provide enough heat for themselves. If the temperature is too low, it will have a significant and lasting impact on the feed intake and development of young poultry. The suitable ambient temperature for adult poultry is usually 18-31°C. Too low a temperature will have an adverse effect on poultry production, cause feed waste, and even lead to respiratory diseases; too high a temperature will prevent poultry from dissipating heat to the surrounding environment, causing the body temperature of poultry to become too high, resulting in listlessness and even death from heatstroke. When it exceeds 39°C, it can even cause large-scale deaths of poultry, bringing major losses. In recent years, the impact of temperature differences has also gradually attracted attention: too large a temperature difference inside the house can not only cause poultry to become ill, but also worsen the condition of sick poultry, reduce treatment effectiveness, and even lead to secondary infection with other diseases.
2. Humidity
The suitable humidity range for poultry is 40%-72%, and the optimal relative humidity is 60%-65%. Humidity mainly affects poultry through its synergistic effect with temperature. At low temperatures, too high humidity will intensify the effect of damp cold, making chickens feel colder and causing cold stress; while at high temperatures, humidity can significantly affect poultry thermoregulation and inhibit evaporative heat loss in poultry. Lin et al. showed that at 35°C, high humidity significantly increased the abdominal and dorsal skin temperature and rectal temperature of broilers. Other studies have also found that high humidity rapidly reduces poultry production performance under high-temperature conditions. If environmental humidity is high, it is likely to cause poultry feathers to stick together, feces to have high water content, litter to become damp, and pathogenic microorganisms to overproliferate, inducing coccidiosis, colibacillosis and other diseases. When humidity is too low, dry air in the poultry house causes dust to fly, damaging the poultry respiratory tract and leading to infection with respiratory diseases such as influenza and Newcastle disease.
3. Light
Light has a stimulating effect on the gonads, affects the hormone levels in poultry, and can effectively control the sexual maturity of poultry. Therefore, good production performance of poultry cannot be achieved without suitable light. Light intensity and light duration have the greatest impact on poultry. Too short a light duration will delay sexual maturity in growing poultry, while too long a duration will advance sexual maturity. Therefore, in order to stimulate poultry appetite, promote growth and increase egg production rate, light duration can be appropriately extended and light intensity increased. According to research, within the first 21 days of age, for every 1 h increase in light duration, the feed intake of meat poultry increases by about 15 g. But light also has certain negative effects on poultry. Wang Cuiju's research found that light can affect egg quality by influencing the morphology of the chicken oviduct.
4. Stocking density
Stocking density can affect the environment inside the chicken house, such as temperature, humidity, ventilation and dust, and also affects the chickens' eating, activity and rest. Research has found that for caged Guinea pearl laying hens, stocking density is negatively correlated with feed intake, daily egg production rate and daily egg weight. In terms of average feed conversion rate and mortality, the high-density group was also higher than the low-density group. With the expansion of farming scale, in pursuit of high profits, many farms blindly increase stocking density without increasing poultry feeding space and drinking space, resulting in differentiation between strong and weak birds in the flock, severe competition for food, increased mortality and culling rates, and decreased egg production performance. At the same time, excessive density increases feces, makes the air in the house foul and damp, and causes pathogenic microorganisms in the litter to exceed standards, inducing various diseases. An important reason for the rapid spread of avian influenza in Asian countries is the narrow cage environment and high chicken density in large intensive chicken farms.
5. Other impacts
During the farming process, noise from ventilation equipment, cleaning equipment, heating equipment, the operations of workers, and cars on nearby roads can have adverse effects on poultry health. When an aircraft circles over a chicken farm, due to stimulation by the aircraft's intense noise, the flock shows panic, stampeding, crashing into cages, and stopping water and feed intake. Moreover, aircraft noise can also reduce the egg production of laying hens and increase the number of soft-shelled and broken-shelled eggs. Research by Pan Qi et al. also showed that, in addition to reducing the egg production rate and egg quality of laying hens, a noisy environment can also affect the fertilization rate of breeding eggs.
II. Control of the farming environment
The site selection of a farm is closely related to disease prevention and control. According to the management method and production characteristics, comprehensive consideration should be given to local natural conditions such as terrain, topography, soil, water source, climate and air, as well as social environmental factors such as transportation, energy, nearby factories and residents. It is suitable to build the farm in the outer suburbs far from towns and villages, far from underground drinking water sources, and more than 500 m away from main transportation lines such as highways and railways, choosing a place with high terrain, facing the sun and sheltered from the wind. In terms of layout, a wall should be built around the farm, an epidemic prevention ditch should be set outside the wall, a disinfection pool should be set at the entrance and exit, the rearing area and office area should be separated, and the rearing area and other facility and equipment areas should be effectively isolated by setting up isolation facilities of about 100 m to avoid cross-infection.
As a necessary work procedure, disinfection work on the farm should be strictly implemented. Vehicles and personnel are required to undergo strict and effective disinfection before entering and leaving the production area. Personnel after disinfection must change into work clothes, shoes and hats before entering the production area. Routine environmental sanitation and disinfection should be done well, with high-pressure water guns often used for washing, and disinfectant used 2-3 times per month for disinfection. Mosquitoes, flies and rats should be eliminated regularly, and pets are prohibited from being kept in the farm area. The hygienic quality testing of feed and water sources should be strengthened to ensure that the poultry house is clean and ventilated. Manure and urine waste should be handled reasonably to reduce environmental pollution. In addition, the air can be purified by greening the environment, reducing particulate pollutants and microorganisms in the air, and also reducing noise.
The impact of the environment on poultry cannot be ignored. In today's world where people increasingly pursue quality, only by surpassing similar products in quality can one hope to stand out in market competition and obtain greater economic benefits.