Abstract
THE discovery that artificial light will improve winter egg production by hens is said to have been made about a hundred years ago by Spanish farmers1. It was later established in a number of laboratories that it will prevent moulting in pullets brought into lay in the autumn. Little progress has been made in defining the light stimulus except for some experiments on the effect of breaking the night2. More than twenty years ago it was suggested on the basis of field records that the seasonal change in day-length as opposed to the absolute day-length was mainly responsible for the seasonal fluctuations of egg yield3. This suggestion has never been followed up.
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References
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Sykes, A. H., J. Agric. Sci. (in the press).
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HUTCHINSON, J. Control of Seasonal Variation in the Egg Production of Hens. Nature 177, 795–796 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/177795b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/177795b0
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