Effect of different intensities of fluorescent light on the early development of chick embryos in ovo.

Abstract

Artificial conditions of incubation light have been found to have profound effects on hatchability of chicken and turkey eggs. It has been shown that illumination of eggs throughout the incubation period reduces hatching time by approximately 20 h compared with dark incubation. Experiments carried out in the present study using different intensities of fluorescent light for first 40 h of incubation in ovo indicate significant acceleration of morphogenesis in chick embryos as determined by cell population analysis. The maximum acceleration of growth was observed at intensity range of 1500-3000 lux without any adverse effects as compared with dark-incubated controls (p < 0.01).