In ovo feeding with β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate and broilerperformance, intestinal health, and immunity status

Abstract

The effects of in ovo administration of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) on broiler performance, intestinal health, and immunity were investigated. At day 18 of incubation, fertile eggs were divided into negative (no injection) and positive (physiologic serum injection) controls and three HMB treatment groups. HMB solution was injected at 0.1% (Group 1), 0.2% (Group 2), and 0.3% (Group 3) concentrations. There were no significant differences between the groups for live weight gain, feed conversion rate, and hot carcass, breast meat, liver, and heart weight. However, the gizzard weight in Group 1 was significantly higher than those in the other groups (P < 0.05). Although the intestinal villi lengths in the treatment Groups 1 and 3 on day 20 were greater than those in the control groups (P < 0.01), at the end of the experiment there were no significant differences among the groups. For antibody levels, the differences between groups on days 4 and 42 were highly significant (P < 0.01), and the antibody levels in Group 2 were higher than those in the other groups. Separately, growth performance and antibody levels were positively correlated with the length of villi in Group 2 (HMB 0.2%).

The impact of in ovo injection of l‐arginine on hatchability, immune system and caecum microflora of broiler chickens

“…As a novel finding of the present experiment, in ovo injection of l-arginine increased chickens' cae- (Oso et al, 2017). It was reported that dietary arginine improved intestinal absorption, barrier function and immune responses, but suppressed colonization of Clostridium perfringens in necrotic enteritis-challenged broilers (Muğlali et al, 2016).…”

“…The impact of in ovo injection of nutrients other than arginine on the immune system has also been evaluated. In another study, in ovo injection of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate increased antibody levels (Muğlali et al, 2016). In another study, in ovo injection of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate increased antibody levels (Muğlali et al, 2016).…”

“…Gholami et al (2015) reported no effect of in ovo injection of betaine or choline on IgM, IgG and total antibody titres. In another study, in ovo injection of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate increased antibody levels (Muğlali et al, 2016). Also, in ovo injection of probiotics improved spleen size and had immunomodulatory effects in the ileum and caecal tonsils of broiler chicks (Pender et al, 2017).…”

“…Also, several other studies evaluated the effect of feeding arginine on the gastrointestinal microflora community. It was reported that dietary arginine improved intestinal absorption, barrier function and immune responses, but suppressed colonization of Clostridium perfringens in necrotic enteritis-challenged broilers (Muğlali et al, 2016). However, caecal Coliform, Clostridium and Salmonella counts were not affected by dietary arginine supplementation (Oso et al, 2017).…”

Effect of in ovo feeding of β‐hydroxy‐β‐methylbutyrate on hatchability, muscle growth and performance in prenatal and posthatch broilers

“…15 Based on the properties of HMB, it is hypothesized that in ovo administration of HMB may benefit broiler embryos by increasing the endocrine milieu and myogenic cell proliferation. However, so far studies concerning IOF of HMB in poultry have focused on the improvement of the body's energy reserves, [16][17][18] intestinal development [18][19][20][21] and optimization of growth performance, 18,22 and few studies have addressed the interrelation of muscle growth and systemic endocrine hormones. Recently, research has shown that in ovo administration of nutrients into the embryonic amnion during the final incubation phase did not affect hatchability.…”