Effects of in ovo injection of L-ascorbic acid on growth performance, carcass composition, plasma antioxidant capacity, and meat quality in broiler chickens , ,

Wang

et al. 2020

Animals

The current study was performed to determine the influence of amniotic injection of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on meat quality of pectoral muscle in broilers. A total of 792 alive broiler embryos at 17 d of incubation were assigned to three treatments randomly (non-injected control, saline-injected control, or NCG-injected treatment). The two injection treatments were an injection with 0.1 mL 0.85% aseptic saline alone or containing 2 mg NCG per egg at 17.5 d of incubation. After hatching, 72 healthy male chicks were selected from each treatment and housed in six pens for a 42 day feeding study. Pectoral muscles from six 42-day-old broilers were collected from each treatment group and were dissected for meat quality assays. The results showed that arginine contents in pectoral muscle in either free or hydrolytic form in the NCG group were higher than those in the non-injection control group (p < 0.05). In comparison to the non-injection or saline-injection control groups, NCG injection resulted in a lower lactic acid content in pectoral muscle (p < 0.05). Muscular antioxidant capacity in the NCG group was higher, as evidenced by the higher activity of catalase and glutathione peroxidase and lower content of malondialdehyde (p < 0.05). In addition, the group of in ovo administration of NCG had decreased drip loss and increased crude fat content in pectoral muscle in comparison to those of either control group (p < 0.05) and had enhanced crude protein content compared to that of the saline-injection control group (p < 0.05). Briefly, these results indicate that amniotic administration of NCG in the late incubation phase increased the arginine content, improved the nutritional properties, enhanced the antioxidant capacity, and improved the meat quality in the pectoral muscle of broilers. Amniotic injection of NCG may serve as a novel approach to improving the meat quality of broilers.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Amniotic Injection of N-Carbamylglutamate on Meat Quality of Broilers

Wang

et al. 2020

Animals

“…The plasma antioxidant system is an important part of a broiler's antioxidant system, which plays an important role in enhancing anti-stress ability (24) . And T-AOC, GSH-Px and superoxide dismutase activities and malondialdehyde content are usually used as indicators for measuring plasma antioxidant capacity (25,26) . To the best of our knowledge, there have been few studies on the effect of IOF of vitamin C on plasma antioxidant capacity of broilers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects ofin ovofeeding of vitamin C on post-hatch performance, immune status and DNA methylation-related gene expression in broiler chickens

Zhu

Duan

et al. 2020

Br J Nutr

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of in ovo feeding (IOF) of vitamin C at embryonic age 11 (E11) on post-hatch performance, immune status and DNA methylation-related gene expression in broiler chickens. A total of 240 Arbor Acres breeder eggs (63 (sem 0·5) g) were randomly divided into two groups: normal saline and vitamin C (VC) groups. After incubation, newly hatched chicks from each group were randomly divided into six replicates with ten chicks per replicate. Hatchability, average daily feed intake (D21–42 and D1–42), and average daily gain and feed conversion ratio (D1–21) were improved by vitamin C treatment (P < 0·05). IOF of vitamin C increased vitamin C content (D1), total antioxidant capacity (D42), IgA (D1), IgM (D1 and D21), stimulation index for T lymphocyte (D35) and lysozyme activity (D21) in plasma (P < 0·05). On D21, vitamin C increased the splenic expression of IL-4 and DNMT1 and decreased IL-1β, Tet2, Tet3 and Gadd45β expression (P < 0·05). On D42, vitamin C increased the splenic expression of IL-4 and DNMT3A and decreased IFN-γ, Tet3, MBD4 and TDG expression (P < 0·05). In conclusion, the vitamin C via in ovo injection can be absorbed by broiler’s embryo and IOF of vitamin C at E11 improves the post-hatch performance and immune status and, to some extent, the antioxidant capacity of broiler chickens. The expression of enzyme-related DNA methylation and demethylation indicates that the level of DNA methylation may increase in spleen in the VC group and whether the fluctuating expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines is related to DNA methylation change remained to be further investigated.

“…Vitamin C can be synthesized endogenously in poultry, but the synthesis ability of chicks is weak, and it is easy to cause vitamin C deficiency under stress stimulation (13) . Previous studies have shown that the immune activity and Accepted manuscript anti-stress ability of broilers can be effectively improved in response to IOF of vitamin C (14,15) . Also, our laboratory had reported that vitamin C supplementation in embryonic period was able to improve plasma antibody levels and regulated immune-related gene expression, thus improved the immune status of broilers (6,16) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In ovo feeding of vitamin C regulates splenic development through purine nucleotide metabolism and induction of apoptosis in broiler chickens

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2020

Br J Nutr

The nutrition condition of earlier life has a long-term influence on health of its later period. In order to the explore effects of in ovo feeding of vitamin C on splenic development, splenic metabolism and apoptosis were detected in embryo, adult chickens and in vitro. A total of 360 fertile eggs were selected and randomly assigned to 2 treatments: the control group (CON) and vitamin C group (VC) were injected with saline and vitamin C on embryonic day 11, respectively. Functional enrichment of differentially expressed genes by transcriptome on embryonic day 19 suggested that purine nucleotide metabolism might be a potential pathway for the in ovo feeding of vitamin C to regulate spleen development. Additionally, the in ovo feeding of vitamin C significantly increased splenic vitamin C content on post-hatch day 21. Meanwhile, the splenic expression of adenosine deaminase, serine/threonine kinase 1 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen were down-regulated, whereas the expression of cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 9 was up-regulated in VC group. On post-hatch day 42, the in ovo feeding of vitamin C significantly down-regulated the splenic expression of B-cell lymphoma 2, and increased the mRNA level of cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 9. The in ovo feeding of vitamin C could regulate the expression of genes related to adenylate metabolism and increased the apoptosis rate in vitro, which consistent with the result in vivo. Together, these results illustrated that the in ovo feeding of vitamin C regulated splenic development and maturation by affecting purine nucleotide metabolism pathway and promoting apoptosis.