The effects of in ovo feeding of glutamine in broiler breeder eggs on hatchability, development of the gastrointestinal tract, growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of in ovo feeding (IOF) of glutamine on hatchability, development of the gastrointestinal tract, growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. Fertilized eggs were subjected to injections with glutamine (Gln) (10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 mg dissolved in 0.5 mL of dionized water) on day 7 of incubation. Hatchability, growth performance, carcass characteristics (carcass weight and relative weights of breast, thigh, heart, liver, gizzard, abdominal fat, intestine, pancreas and spleen) and jejunal morphometry (measurement of villus height and width and crypt depth) were determined during the experiment. The weight of newly hatched chickens was significantly greater in groups with Gln injection than in control and sham groups. But IOF caused lower hatchability than in the control group (non-injected eggs) (p < 0.05). Chickens from IOF of Gln showed better weight gain and feed conversion ratio (0–42 days of age), when compared to chickens hatched from control and sham groups. The IOF of Gln significantly increased villus height, villus width and crypt depth at hatch period and villus height at 42 days of age. In addition, carcass weights and relative weights of breast, thigh and gizzard were also markedly increased in chickens treated in ovo with Gln; whereas heart, liver, abdominal fat, intestine, pancreas and spleen were not significantly altered at the end of the experimental period. These data suggest that the IOF of Gln may improve jejunum development, leading to an increased nutrient assimilation and consequently to greater performance in broiler chickens.

The Effects of In-Ovo Injection of Propolis on Egg Hatchability and Starter Live Performance of Japanese Quails

“…Similarly, no significant effect of the in-ovo injection of broiler embryos with selected substances on feed conversion ratio were detected by Bhanja & Mandal (2005) and Salary et al (2014). In contrast, Salmanzadeh et al (2012) reported that the broilers submitted to in-ovo injection of glucose presented better feed conversion ratio during the rearing period than the control group. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not affected by supplemental propolis in broiler (Ziaran et al, 2005;Acikgoz et al, 2005;Canogullari et al, 2009;Mahmoud et al, 2013) and quail diets (Sahin et al, 2003).…”

“…Hatchability was increased by in-ovo injection with ascorbic acid (Ipek et al, 2004), L-arginine (Al-Daraji et al, 2012), and carbohydrates (Dong et al, 2013). However, hatchability was reduced by in-ovo injection with ascorbic acid (Sgavioli et al, 2015), organic trace minerals (Oliveira et al, 2015), glucose (Ebrahimnezhad et al, 2011), and glucose and magnesium (Salmanzadeh et al, 2012). In contrast, Bhanja & Mandal (2005), Nowaczewski et al (2012), Moore et al (1994), Shafey et al (2012), and Coskun et al (2014) reported that hatchability was not affected when eggs were injected with amino acids, vitamin C, hormones, carbohydrates, and pollen extract, respectively.…”

“…In-ovo injection of some nutrients may cause nutrient imbalance inside the eggs, and consequently may limit maximal growth and development of the embryo during incubation (Uni, 2014). In-ovo injection into the albumen may cause an allergic reaction that may prevent the respiration of the developing embryo, and this may led to the death of the chicks (Salmanzadeh et al, 2012).…”

“…The in-ovo method was first used by Sharma & Burmester (1982) for the vaccination of turkey hatching eggs against Marek's disease. Recently, the in-ovo method has been investigated by researchers for administering ascorbic acid (Elibol et al, 2001;Ipek et al, 2004;Sgavioli et al, 2015), carbohydrates (Zhai et al, 2011;Salmanzadeh, 2012;Ipek et al, 2004;Tako et al, 2004), amino acids (Bhanja et al, 2014;Ohta et al, 1999;Kermanshahi et al, 2015), vitamins (Bello et al, 2013;Salary et al, 2014), minerals (Yair et al, 2013;Oliveira et al, 2015), pollen (Coskun et al, 2014), hormones (Moore et al, 1994;Kocamis et al, 1999), and royal jelly (Moghaddam et al, 2014).…”

In ovo feeding of carbohydrates for broilers—a systematic review

“…Regarding the post‐hatch performance, the use of carbohydrates improved weight gain in only one study (Salmanzadeh et al., ), and the final weight in three studies (Salmanzadeh, ; Salmanzadeh, Ebrahimnejad, Shahryar, Ashrafi, et al., ; Tako et al., ), when compared to the placebo group. Feed intake increased in only one (6%) study (Salmanzadeh, ) and feed conversion in three (17%) studies (Campos et al., ; Salmanzadeh, ; Salmanzadeh et al., ).…”