Light intensity and cage position affect meat quality by regulating intestinal flora, inflammation and oxidation in broilers.

Introduction: With improvements in living standards, high-quality food has become the preferred choice for high-quality living, leading to an increasing demand for chicken meat quality. Light intensity and cage position are crucial environmental factors in intensive farming systems and serve as environmental stressors linked to systemic inflammation and oxidative status in broilers. This study investigated the effects of light intensity and cage position on Jinling yellow-feather broiler meat quality. Methods: A total of 1,200 male yellow-feathered broilers were randomly assigned to a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement. Treatments included two light intensities (4 lx and 1.5 lx) and three cage positions (upper, middle, and lower). There were six treatment groups: 4 lx-upper (Ht), 4 lx-middle (Hm), 4 lx-lower (Hs), 1.5 lx-upper (Lt), 1.5 lx-middle (Lm), and 1.5 lx-lower (Ls). Each group contained 10 replicates (cages) with 20 broilers each. Results: The 4 lx treatment significantly improved pH, and meat color ( Conclusions: These findings suggest that light intensity and cage position interact to affect meat quality, with observed improvements potentially linked to concomitant changes in gut microbiota, inflammation and oxidative status.