Individual and combined effects of in-ovo injection of creatine monohydrate and glucose on somatic characteristics, energy status, and posthatch performance of broiler embryos and hatchlings

Abstract

Two trials were conducted to investigate the individual and combined effects of in-ovo injection of creatine monohydrate ( CMH: ) and glucose on the somatic characteristics and energy status of broiler embryos and hatchlings and the growth performance of chicks during the first wk posthatch. In trial 1, 550 17.5-day-old living, fertile eggs were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatment groups, including 1) a noninjected control, 2) a 0.4 mL diluent-injected control, or 0.4 mL diluents containing 3) 6 mg CMH, 4) 25 mg glucose, or 5) a combination of 6 mg CMH and 25 mg glucose (identified as CMH+G: ). In trial 2, after hatch, 48 hatchlings with individual body weight ( BW: ) close to the average BW of their incubation group were randomly selected and placed in 6 replicates of 8 birds each to evaluate their growth performance during the first wk posthatch. Compared with the noninjected and the 0.4-mL diluent-injected control groups, individual injection of CMH or glucose did not affect the hatching time, hatchability, somatic characteristics, or concentrations of glycogen and glucose in the liver and pectoralis major ( PM: ) muscle, although injection of CMH increased (P < 0.05) concentrations of creatine ( CR: ) and phosphocreatine ( PCR: ) in the PM muscle on d 19 of incubation (E19.5). However, the CMH+G treatment increased (P < 0.05) BW relative to set egg weight ( SEW: ) on E19.5, as well as residual yolk sac weight on the day of hatch. Moreover, the CMH+G treatment also increased (P < 0.05) concentrations of glycogen and glucose in the liver and concentrations of Cr and PCr in the PM muscle on E19.5. Chicks in the CMH+G group also exhibited higher BW gain during the first wk than controls (P < 0.05). These results indicate that combined injection of CMH and glucose during the last stage of incubation have a synergistic effect on improvement of the energy status of embryos and hatchlings, which is useful for enhancing embryo development, and subsequently improving chick growth during the early posthatch stages.

In ovo feeding of creatine pyruvate modulates growth performance, energy reserves and mRNA expression levels of gluconeogenesis and glycogenesis enzymes in liver of embryos and neonatal broilers

“…The effects of CrPyr on energy reserves are similar to the findings of Zhang et al. () and Tangara, Chen, Xu, Huang, and Peng (), who reported that IOF of exogenous nutrients could enhance the glycogen concentrations in liver of embryos and neonates respectively. Hence, we speculated that the pyruvate was used as the possible substrate for hepatic gluconeogenesis not only in the neonatal chickens but also in late‐term embryos.…”

“…Our study showed that injection of CrPyr did not change the concentrations of Cr and PCr in liver of the embryos and broilers. Similarly, a previous study in our laboratory demonstrated that IOF of creatine monohydrate (a commercial additive containing Cr) also had no influence on liver Cr levels in embryos and hatchlings (Zhang et al., ). These results suggested that the exogenous Cr addition has no effect on endogenous biosynthesis of Cr in liver of late‐term embryos and neonatal broilers.…”

“…Zhang et al. () reported that IOF of creatine monohydrate increased the Cr levels in pectoral muscle of embryos and hatchlings. As mentioned previously, IOF of CrPyr increased the concentration of Cr in plasma of the neonatal broilers in the present study.…”

In ovodelivery of various biological supplements, vaccines and drugs in poultry: current knowledge

“…Therefore, a stable and sufficient energy status is necessary for the late‐term stage of chick embryos, which can be supplied by the in ovo injection of carbohydrates to the amnion of the late‐term avian embryo . Many previous studies have confirmed that the energy status or BW of hatchlings had improved in response to the in ovo injection of carbohydrate solutions, including glucose, maltose, sucrose, or dextrin, singly or in combination with other nutrients . Smirnov et al inoculated poultry eggs with carbohydrates and found that the supplementary energy source had increased the development of goblet cells and also had broadened the surfaces of villi in the intestine.…”

In ovo feeding of carbohydrates for broilers—a systematic review

“…Ipek, Sahan, and Yilmaz () used 5–15 mg of glucose per egg, while Zhai, Rowe, et al. () inoculated 2500 mg. From studies that inoculated <100 mg of carbohydrate, 80% (Campos et al., ; Ipek et al., ; Leitão et al., ; Zhang et al., ) observed no differences in the hatch weight. From studies in which the authors inoculated more than 100 mg per egg, there was a higher hatch weight in 50% of the studies (Jia et al., ; Shafey et al., ; Tako et al., ).…”