• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2020

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of music enrichment on the live body weight of chickens and meat quality grade of the carcasses. Fourteen flocks at four broiler farms with identical windowless houses were provided with identical starter and finisher diets. These were either exposed to classical music or not exposed to any music from the starter to slaughter age. At 30 days posthatch, the chickens were transported from farms to a slaughterhouse. Two hundred carcasses from each flock were randomly selected for measurement of the carcass traits by the licensed meat inspectors at the slaughterhouse. The live body weights at the slaughter age were not significantly different between the two treatments. In addition, music enrichment did not affect meat freshness (i.e., torrymeter values) nor did it affect other carcass trait variables including percentage of bruises, flesh blemishes, abnormalities, and quality A grade. In conclusion, music enrichment did not affect the body weight or carcass quality of broiler chickens.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1454-1460
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• 2022

Objective: Early environmental enrichment in life can improve cognition in animals. The effect of prenatal auditory stimulation on learning ability and fear level in chick embryos remained unexplored. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of prenatal auditory stimulation on the learning ability and fear level of chicks. Methods: A total of 450 fertilized eggs were randomly divided into 5 groups, including control group (C), low-sound intensity music group (LM), low-sound intensity noise group (LN), high-sound intensity noise group (HN) and high-sound intensity music group (HM). From the 10th day of embryonic development until hatching, group LM and group LN received 65 to 75 dB of music and noise stimulation. Group HN and group HM received 85 to 95 dB of noise and music stimulation, and group C received no additional sound. At the end of incubation, the one-trial passive avoidance learning (PAL) task and tonic immobility (TI) tests were carried out, and the serum corticosterone (CORT) and serotonin (5-HT) concentrations were determined. Results: The results showed that compared with the group C, 65 to 75 dB of music and noise stimulation did not affect the PAL avoidance rate (p>0.05), duration of TI (p>0.05) and the concentration of CORT (p>0.05) and 5-HT (p>0.05) in chicks. However, 85 to 95 dB of music and noise stimulation could reduce duration of TI (p<0.05) and the concentration of CORT (p<0.05), but no significant effect was observed on the concentration of 5-HT (p>0.05) and PAL avoidance rate (p>0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, the prenatal auditory stimulation of 85 to 95 dB can effectively reduce the fear level of chicks while it does not affect the learning ability.