Effect of In Ovo Administration of Branched-Chain Amino Acids on Embryo Growth and Hatching Time of Chickens

Abstract

The effect of various branched-chain amino acids (BCAA : isoleucine, leucine, valine) on embryo growth and the hatching time of fertilized eggs of chickens was examined. Before the onset of egg incubation, one of BCAA was injected into fertilized eggs. The amount of each BCAA administrated into eggs was equal to 1% of each amino acid exits in the egg. On day 14 of incubation, the weight of embryos was measured. On day 21, the hatching time was recorded, and body weight of chicks at birth was measured. The in ovo administration of BCAA increased the weight of whole embryo compared to the control. Compared to the control, the in ovo administration of leucine and valine significantly accelerated the hatching time. There were no significant differences in body weight of newly hatched chicks among all treatments. It was concluded that the in ovo administration of BCAA, especially leucine and valine, could accelerate embryo growth resulting in the acceleration of hatching time of chicks.

Growth, Digestive Tract and Muscle Weights in Slow-Growing Broiler is not Affected by a Blend of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Injected into Different Sites of Egg

“…The body weight at hatch, hatchability, FCR and GIT traits in the present study was comparable to that obtained by Bhanja and Mandal (2005), who used a mixture of leucine, isoleucine and valine of about 1.75:1.00:1.23 percent in amino acid injected birds. Likewise, Kita et al (2015) founded that there was no significant differences in body weight at hatch among in ovo injection of each BCAA. In the present study, the fact that the BCAA blend did not affect negatively the studied variables indicate that the dose of BCAA blend was not a level that would cause a harmful effect on these parameters, because excess BCAA in diet has detrimental effect to chicks (D'Mello and Lewis, 1970).…”

“…Although it was expected that in ovo injection of the BCAA individually (Kita et al, 2015) or blend (Bhanja and Mandal, 2005) would stimulate the growth performance of broilers due to the may be related to the reported properties of the HMB and IGF-1 (Moore et al, 2005;Kornasio et al, 2009;Pedrosa et al, 2013), research on leucine, isoleucine and valine and/or blend of these yield contradicting results (Bhanja and Mandal, 2005;Kita et al, 2015). However, the results of the present study are in agreement with previous observations that indicated a mixture of BCAA that did not affect body weight gain, feed intake or feed efficiency in fast-growing broilers (Bhanja and Mandal, 2005).…”

“…The BCAA, especially leucine are thought to have effects on muscle protein synthesis apart from being a source of energy and may reduce the amount of proteolysis in the muscle and muscle damage that may occur under stress. Indeed, in ovo administration of BCAA, especially leucine and valine could accelerate embryo growth resulting in the acceleration of hatching time of chicks (Kita et al, 2015).…”

“…It has been indicated that among BCAA, only leucine is capable of activating translation initiation factors and stimulating protein synthesis in skeletal muscles (Anthony et al, 2000). Thus, studies have focused especially on HMB (Foye et al, 2006(Foye et al, , 2007Tako et al, 2004) or BCAA (Bhanja and Mandal, 2005;Kita et al, 2015) supplementation in in ovo solution. However, leucine is not only a source for HMB formation, but also is an AA having extra proteolytic effects.…”

“…Therefore some studies were conducted to prefer the targeted injection site in embryonated eggs for to understand various physiological features associated with late embryonic development (Ohta and Kidd, 2001;Kop-Bozbay et al, 2013). It has been investigated the effect of the blend of BCAA (Bhanja and Mandal, 2005) or each of BCAA (Kita et al, 2015) on the hatchability traits and growth performance of fast-growing broilers. To our knowledge, the effect of in ovo administration of a mixture of BCAA (2 leucine: 1 valine: 1 isoleucine), which have an extra protein effect, into different sites of egg (amniotic cavity, yolk sac and albumin) on growth performance, carcass and some demand (muscle, blood etc.)…”