Effect of in ovo feeding of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate on hatchability, muscle growth and performance in prenatal and posthatch broilers.
BACKGROUND
β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) is the metabolite of leucine that plays an important role in muscle protein metabolism. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of in ovo feeding (IOF) of HMB at 7 days of incubation (DOI) via air cell or 18 DOI via amnion on hatchability, muscle growth and performance in prenatal and posthatch broilers.


RESULTS
IOF of HMB via air cell at 7 DOI increased hatchability by 4.34% compared with the control (89.67% versus 85.33%). Birds in IOF groups exhibited higher body weight, average daily body weight gain and pectoral muscle percentage. Furthermore, IOF of HMB significantly increased the level of plasma growth hormone, insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1. Chicks hatched from IOF treatment had larger diameters of muscle fiber and higher mitotic activity of satellite cells at early posthatch age. IOF of HMB activated satellite cells by upregulation of mRNA expression of myogenic transcription factors, myogenic differentiation one (MyoD) and myogenin. Chicks hatched from air cell injection group had higher pectoral muscle percentage at 5 d posthatch and greater satellite cell mitotic activity at 7 d posthatch than counterparts from amnion injection group.


CONCLUSIONS
IOF of HMB via amnion at 18 DOI or especially via air cell at 7 DOI could be used as an effective approach to enhance hatchability, productive performance and breast muscle yield in broilers. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.
['Ma|You-Biao|YB|', 'Zhang|Feng-Dong|FD|', 'Wang|Jing|J|', 'Wu|Shu-Geng|SG|', 'Qi|Guang-Hai|GH|', 'Zhang|Hai-Jun|HJ|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9149-600X']
D000821:Animal Feed D000818:Animals D002645:Chickens D019587:Dietary Supplements D005247:Feeding Behavior D005260:Female D013006:Growth Hormone D007328:Insulin D008297:Male D008938:Mitosis D017570:MyoD Protein D032446:Myoblasts D018008:Myogenin D010369:Pectoralis Muscles D014631:Valerates
in ovo feeding β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate broiler breast muscle