Analysis of the advantages and applications of LED in poultry breeding

LED Light Sources Energy-efficient, narrowband emission makes lighting technology of great value in life science applications. In this article, KEN MARRIN explains how solid state lighting can be used in poultry farming to reduce electricity bills and increase yields.

Experts predict that by 2030 global demand for food will double. To meet this demand, food producers are adopting new technologies to increase production at a lower cost while reducing environmental pressures. Most of these production technologies focus on strengthening traditional inputs such as water, air, nutrients and space. However, light is a largely untapped production investment.

By using LED lighting, taking advantage of the unique spectral needs of poultry, swine, dairy cattle, fish or crustaceans, farmers can reduce stress and poultry mortality, regulate circadian rhythms, and dramatically increase yields of eggs, meat and other protein sources while significantly Reduce energy use and other input costs.

Niche applications for solid-state lighting (SSL) include agricultural-specific lighting, which can generate significant revenue potential. Major manufacturers such as Philips and Osram have developed spectrum-tunable LED lamps for agriculture and horticulture, with small businesses such as Once Innovations and NextGen Illumination producing LED-only poultry markets.

Many livestock farmers still use 60W, 80W and 100W incandescent lamps in their barns. These lamps are very suitable for human environment, but the incandescent lamp and the sun is not the same, the best light for humans is not necessarily suitable for other animals. The spectrum of sunlight is significantly different from that of incandescent lamps. Daylight is a combination of all colors.

Modern barn lighting systems attempt to mimic the sun's spectrum in an attempt to provide a continuous spectrum of all colors with no gaps in between. The incandescent lamp (Figure 2a) effectively simulates sunlight at sunset, producing a continuous spectrum with many reds, fewer greens, and a little bit of blue. However, this spectrum does not simulate the midday sun. Some manufacturers try to change the spectrum by coating the lamp, but this method does not produce a continuous spectrum. In addition, incandescent bulbs are also extremely inefficient, often burn out, and require lamps that achieve moisture-proofing. Of course, incandescent lights will soon be banned from production too.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have good efficiency and produce white light, but their light output is designed for human vision. White light is achieved by creating and combining narrow bands of red, green and blue. As a result, there is a large discrepancy in the spectrum between red, blue and green peaks, and many of the red, blue and green wavelengths present in sunlight can be lost (Figure 2b). Blu-ray is particularly weak, most of the deeper red have lost. In general, CFLs are very poor at imitating natural light, are also hard to clean (curly shape), contain a small amount of toxic mercury, require a moisture-proof enclosure, and do not tone well.

High-pressure sodium lamps (HPSs) offer excellent efficiency and high light output with the strongest color spectrum in red and yellow, giving the bulb a unique orange or amber color. However, like CFLs, many chromatograms are missing, especially green and blue. In addition, HPS lamps are difficult to darken, slow to warm up, require ballast operation, have higher upfront costs, and may contain sodium and / or mercury.

LED is the most efficient and environmentally friendly product in agricultural lighting solutions, producing white light by combining blue LEDs with red and green phosphors. The spectrum is nearly continuous (Figure 3), the blue is particularly strong, but there are plenty of green and red. Although not entirely sunlight, from a human perspective, the LED spectrum provides approximate daylight without the spectral gaps that other technologies have. In addition, they have the longest service life (up to 10 years around the clock), are rugged, less susceptible to vibrations, and allow color shifting and color control. LEDs have high up-front costs, but these costs can be recovered by saving energy, minimizing the total cost of ownership.