Evaluation of in ovo feeding of low or high mixtures of cysteine and lysine on performance, intestinal morphology and physiological responses of thermal-challenged broiler embryos

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of in ovo feeding cysteine, lysine or their combinations on the perinatal and post-hatch physiological responses of broiler embryos exposed to heat stress during incubation. A total of two thousand fertile eggs of broiler breeders (Ross 308) flock (at 38 weeks of age) were used for this study. In the first 10 days, the eggs were incubated using the conventional protocol of relative humidity and temperature of 55% and 37.8°C respectively. From day ten onward, the temperature was increased to 39.6°C for 6 h per day. On day 17.5, 1,500 eggs with the evidence of living embryos were randomly selected and assigned to 6 treatments having five replicates of 50 eggs each. The treatments were: un-injected eggs (UI), eggs injected with only 0.5 ml distilled water (DW), 3.5 mg/egg cysteine (CY), 2mg/egg lysine (LY), 3.4 mg cysteine+2 mg lysine (CLH) and 1.7 mg cysteine+1 mg lysine (CLL). On day 21, the hatchability, anatomical characteristics, chick quality and the antioxidant status of the chicks were evaluated. During the post-hatch phase, data were collected on the haematology, biochemical parameters, growth performance and intestinal morphology of the birds. The results revealed that the hatchability of CY chicks was higher (p < 0.05) than in the other treatments, while the lowest values were recorded in CLH. The hatching muscle of the chicks of CLL was similar to those of CY but higher (p < 0.05) than the others. The MDA of DW and UI chickens was similar and higher than birds in the other treatment groups. The serum SOD of CLL birds was comparable to that of CY but higher than the values recorded in the other treatments. The final weights of CLL chickens were similar to those of LY but significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of the other treatments. The duodenal villus heights of the birds of CLL were higher than those of the other treatment groups, whereas the villus height of the birds of CLH was higher than those of UI, DW and CY. Overall, in ovo feeding of cysteine alone improved the hatchability of thermally-challenged broiler embryos. In contrast, a low-dose mixture of cysteine plus lysine improved the post-hatch growth performance.

Effects of cysteine addition to low-fishmeal diets on the growth, anti-oxidative stress, intestine immunity, and Streptococcus agalactiae resistance in juvenile golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus)

“…Cysteine effectively protects the physical barrier of the intestine. For instance, cysteine protects the intestine of broiler chicks by increasing the length of the intestinal villi ( 51 ). In addition, cysteine has been found to improve intestinal integrity and permeability and reduce the intestinal inflammatory response in pigs ( 25 , 27 ).…”

In‌ ovo feeding of nutraceuticals and its role in adjusting the gastrointestinal tract, antioxidative properties, immunological response, and performance in poultry: An updated review

“…Gonzales et al (2022) revealed that IOF of a combination of sulphur amino acids (5.90 mg of l-methionine and 3.40 mg of l-cysteine) plus 0.15 mg of folic acid increased the ileal crypt depth in neonatal chicks. Also, Ajayi et al (2022) demonstrated that IOF of a blend of 3.4 mg cysteine + 2 mg lysine on day 17.5 of incubation improved intestinal morphology, including elevated duodenal villus height, villus surface area, and villus height/crypt depth ratio. These results confirmed the previous studies, which showed that IOF of lysine enhanced the intestinal histomorphology in pigeons (Zhu et al 2019).…”

“…Han et al (2022) postulated that IOF of l-leucine (69 μmol) increased serum GSH-Px and decreased serum MDA concentrations of broilers at 39 days of age. Also, Ajayi et al (2022) demonstrated that IOF of a mixture of 3.4 mg cysteine + 2 mg lysine on day 17.5 of incubation increased serum SOD and decreased serum MDA concentrations of dayold chicks. Additionally, Lu et al (2022) proved that IOF of 1% l-arginine on day 18 of incubation increased total antioxidant capacity and reduced MDA content of breast muscle at 21 days of age.…”

“…The amniotic route is the optimal site in late stages of embryonic development and yolk sac in early stages of embryonic development. Application of IOF to late-stage embryos is safe coupled with no negative effects on hatchability but sometimes improved hatchability and chick quality (Nazem et al 2017;Subramaniyan et al 2019;Ajayi et al 2022). Also, the site of IOF depends on the breed and embryonic development.…”

“…Also, the site of IOF depends on the breed and embryonic development. Broiler eggs are usually injected into amniotic fluid or amniotic cavity on 17-18 days of incubation (Ajayi et al 2022;Shehata et al 2022), while pigeon eggs are injected into the amniotic cavity on day 13 of incubation (Zhu et al 2019). Goose eggs are injected into the amnion on 24 days of incubation (Dang et al 2022) and Japanese quail eggs are injected into the air sac on 15 days of incubation (Hajati et al 2021).…”