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In Ovo Injection of Dietary Supplement: Effect on Egg Weight, Embryonic Development, Hatching, and Chick Quality
Kadriye Kursun1, Nasir Abdallah1, Mikail Baylan1
1Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Cukurova University, Saricam, Türkiye.
Background:
Restricting nutrients in eggs may hinder the growth of commercial chickens, which could result in higher embryonic mortality and poor growth performance, indicating the significance of in ovo injection of dietary nutrients to support embryonic and post-hatch growth in poultry.
Objective:
This study investigated the in ovo supplementation of a dietary supplement on egg weight, embryonic development, hatching, and chick quality traits of broiler chickens.
Method:
A total of 300 hatching eggs were randomly pre-assigned to a specific in ovo injection protocol (T-1, T-2, T3, and T-4) and incubated under standard conditions. At embryonic day (ED) 12, the eggs were either injected with distilled water or a dietary supplement (containing a mixture of vitamins, trace minerals, and amino acids). The injection treatment consisted of T-1 (non-injected eggs), T-2 (eggs injected with 5 mL of distilled water), T-3 (eggs injected with 5 mL of a solution containing 0.04% of the dietary supplement), and T-4 (eggs injected with 5 mL of a solution containing 0.08% of the dietary supplement).
Results:
The results revealed that the experimental treatment had no effect on egg weight or egg weight loss during embryogenesis (p > 0.05). The lowest weight of yolk-free body mass (YFBM-w), yield of yolk-free body mass (YFBM-Y), embryo length (Em-L), embryo width (Em-W), tibia length (TL), and wing length (WL) at ED 16 were identified in T-4 (p < 0.05). At ED 19, the highest Em-L and eye width (Ey-w) were identified in T-3 (p < 0.05). The highest chick weight at hatch (CWAH) and chick yield (CY) were identified in T-4 (p < 0.05). While the chick length and appearance score were lowest in T-4, the chick eye score was lowest in T-2 (p < 0.05). The embryonic mortality, hatchability, navel, and leg scores of chicks were similar among the treatments (p > 0.05).
Conclusion:
It was concluded that the in ovo injection of a mixture of dietary nutrients could improve embryonic traits during the latter part of embryogenesis, chick weight, and chick yield at hatch; however, it may possess a strong negative effect on hatchability, embryonic mortality, and chick quality traits.
