This study was conducted to investigate the effects of broiler breeder dietary vitamin E and egg storage time on the egg characteristics, hatchability, and antioxidant status of the egg yolks and newly hatched chicks. A total of 512 71-week-old Ross 308 breeder hens were fed the same basic diets containing 6 or 100 mg/kg vitamin E for 12 weeks. During this time, a total of 1532, 1464, and 1316 eggs were independently collected at weeks 8, 10, and 12, respectively, and subsequently stored for 0 or 14 d before hatching. The outcomes from three trials showed that prolonged egg storage time (14 vs. 0 d) negatively affected (p < 0.05) the egg characteristics, hatchability traits, and the yolk total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (p < 0.05). Chicks derived from the stored eggs exhibited higher malonaldehyde (MDA) and T-AOC in the serum and yolk sac (p < 0.05). Broiler breeder dietary vitamin E (100 vs. 6 mg/kg) increased (p < 0.05) the hatchability and the antioxidant status of the yolks as indicated by a higher α-tocopherol content and T-AOC and lower MDA level (p < 0.05). The supplementation of vitamin E also remarkably increased (p < 0.05) the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity (yolk sac, weeks 8 and 12) and T-AOC (serum, weeks 8, 10, and 12; yolk sac, weeks 8 and 12) and decreased (p < 0.05) the MDA content of chicks (yolk sac, week 10; serum, week 12). Interactions (p < 0.05) were found between the broiler breeder dietary vitamin E and egg storage time on the hatchability and antioxidant status of chick tissues. Broiler breeder dietary vitamin E (100 vs. 6 mg/kg) increased (p < 0.05) the hatchability and the T-AOC in the serum and liver of chicks, and decreased (p < 0.05) the early embryonic mortality and the MDA content in the yolk sacs of chicks derived from eggs stored for 14 d but not for 0 d. In conclusion, prolonged egg storage time (14 vs. 0 d) increased the embryonic mortality, decreased the hatchability, and impaired the antioxidant status of egg yolks and newly hatched chicks, while the addition of broiler breeder dietary vitamin E (100 vs. 6 mg/kg) could partly relieve these adverse impacts induced by long-term egg storage.
This study was conducted to explore whether dietary pectic oligosaccharide (
POS
) supplementation could improve gut health of broiler breeders with different egg-laying rates. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used in this study. Two hundred fifty-six Arbor Acres broiler breeders (48 wk of age), including 128 average egg-laying rate and 128 low egg-laying rate (
LELR
) birds, were randomly fed with the diets supplemented with or without 200 mg kg
−1
of POS (n = 8). The trial lasted for 8 wk. Compared with average egg-laying rate broiler breeders, LELR broiler breeders had lower laying rate and qualified egg rate (
P
< 0.05), higher egg weight and feed conversion ratio (
P
< 0.05), higher malondialdehyde (
MDA
) levels in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05), higher
IL-6
(
P
< 0.05) and tumor necrosis factor α (
TNF-α
) (
P
= 0.07) mRNA expressions in the jejunal mucosa, and lower microflora diversity in cecal digesta. Dietary POS supplementation increased egg weight of broiler breeders (
P
< 0.05), enhanced superoxide dismutase activity in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05), decreased MDA level in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05), upregulated zonula occluden 1 mRNA expression in the jejunal mucosa (
P
< 0.05), downregulated
IL-6
and
TNF-α
mRNA expressions in the jejunal mucosa (
P
< 0.05), and regulated relative abundance of some microbiota (including the phylum and genus,
P
< 0.05). In addition, in LELR broiler breeders, POS administration enhanced villus height (
P
= 0.08) and
ZO-2
mRNA expression (
P
= 0.09) in the jejunal mucosa, alleviated the increasing MDA level in the jejunum (
P
< 0.05) and
IL-6
and
TNF-α
mRNA expressions in the jejunal mucosa (
P
< 0.05), and regulated relative abundance of some microbiota (including the phylum and genus,
P
< 0.05). These results suggest that supplementing POS in diets may elevate gut health via improvement of intestinal barrier function, antioxidant capacity, and microbiota composition in broiler breeders with different egg-laying rates.
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