In Ovo-Juvenile Nutrition Feeding in Poultry : A Tool for Optimising Growth Rate and Feed Efficiency in Poultry
With the increase in productivity and highly feed efficient birds, the nutritional demand of embryos and early aged chicks has changed over decades. Early nutrition programing is one of the latest and successful methods to feed embryos and recently hatched chicks to prepare chickens with the healthy gut, favorable microbiota, improved immunity, and overall improved growth performance. Currently used materials to feed as early nutrition includes probiotics, prebiotics, exogenous enzymes, amino acids, hormones, vaccines, and drugs. Early feeding to chicks with these nutrients and supplements has been found to improve total digestive tract development, increase growth rate and feed efficiency, reduce post-hatch mortality and morbidity, promote growth of beneficial gut microbiota, improve the immune system and the response to enteric antigens, reduce incidence of developmental skeletal disorders, and increase in muscle development and breast meat yield.
Concept – Physiological changes occurring during the pre to post hatch period. v The use of the egg nutrients by the embryo during incubation. v Early strategy for feeding was developed.
EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT
Fertilization: Fertilization is the process of combining the male gamete or “sperm”, with the female gamete or “ovum”.The product of this combination is a cell called a zygote.
PERIODS IN EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT
IN OVO FEEDING
Healthy and faster growth of the embryo can be obtained by:
1. Supplying extra nutrients to the breeder hen, so that these extra nutrients will be deposited in the egg for utilisation by the embryo.
2. Pressure differential dipping of the hatching eggs in nutrient/ probiotic solutions.
3. In-ovo injection of nutrients into the egg.
Pressure differential dipping of hatching eggs
Hatching eggs will be dipped in chilled nutrient solution having micro & macro nutrients, probiotics, antibiotics and performance enhancers for about 10 minutes. The solution must be atleast 10° c cooler than the egg, so that the pressure inside the egg will be reduced. This negative pressure sucks some fluid into the egg. Take eggs out, dry the surface quickly, by keeping under fan or blowing hot air, then set in the incubator.
In-ovo injection of the nutrients
Done on 7, 14th & 18th day of incubation. About 0.5 ml of nutrient solution will be injected form the broad end of the egg, using “in-ovo ject” used for m.d. vaccination. The hole will be sealed after injection with hard parafin for normal hatch of the egg. The nutrients include vitamins, Pre-igested proteins, amino acid mixture, sugars and performance enhancers. This will increase chick weight.
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY FEEDING
The perinatal period spanning from late-term embryo to few days post-hatch is an important period for the development of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and the immune system of poultry. Unlike mammals that can influence the development of fetus even after parturition, avian species can leverage expression only through the composition of the egg. Due to this restriction, all necessary nutrients, growth factors, and the machinery needed for the development are required to be present in the fertilized egg. Also, because of a rapidly growing embryo and the fastmetabolic turnover of modern chicks, some of the essential nutrients can become depleted or insufficient during adverse environment and disease challenges. This constraint of nutrient reserves may limit the maximal development and growth of newly hatched chicks. The availability of essential nutrients can be improved, and the existing challenges can be overcome to some extent by providing early nutrition to the embryos and chicks. Early nutrition or feeding in poultry production is a concept of providing the required nutrients to the birds either during the period when the embryo is developing or immediately after hatch until they attain a fully matured digestive system . A prominent early nutrition technique that could provide further opportunity to influence the development of a chick inside the egg and overcome the constraints of nutrient limitation during late incubation phase is in ovo feeding (IOF). This technique provides the opportunity to supply essential nutrients, neutraceuticals, and functional foods to uplift the status of growth and development of the embryo. Several routes including amniotic , yolk sac and air sac have been used. Amniotic fluid in the amnion surrounds the developing embryo and is believed to provide mechanical protection, prevent desiccation, and adhesion of the embryo . The amniotic fluid also contains protein, minerals, hormones, water, and other nutrients needed for growth and development of the developing chicks which begin to imbibe it around day 13 of incubation until internal pipping . This natural phenomenon of consumption of amniotic fluid by the late-term embryo toward hatch provides opportunities to add various forms of essential nutrients that would ultimately reach the GIT of chicks. Nutritional substances injected into the amniotic cavity are ingested and get deposited in the lungs and intestine due to the rhythmic respiratory movements of the late-term embryo . In ovo feeding can also be used to provide adequate nutrients to the late-term embryo to protect it from the negative effect of starvation during the extended window of hatching . Afsarian et al. found that in ovo injection of thyroxine along with manipulation of the eggshell temperature decreased the mortality rate occurring due to cold-induced ascites and improved chick quality and post-hatch performance. Recently, Yang et al. observed that IOF of creatine pyruvate increased glucose concentration in thigh muscles of neonatal broilers, which suggests that the energy metabolism can also be altered in embryo and chicks by in ovo injection of different bioactive compounds. Moreover, in ovo application of prebiotics can be advantageous as it has been reported to increase the numbers of beneficial bacteria and promote their early colonization in the intestine of neonatal chicks . Likewise, investigators are interested in inoculating eggs with probiotics and synbiotics as they can be used in small amount and provide improved immunity and a better post-hatch resistance against pathogens . Perinatal period is also very critical as the chicks must adjust to the nature of the changing nutrition mostly from yolk-based lipid diet to carbohydrate-based solid feed. It has been observed that chicks are more efficient in utilizing lipid following hatch and gradually gain the capacity to absorb more hexoses and amino acids . The transition of a chick from nutrient utilization from embryonic reserves to feed forces for adjustment of the newly developed digestive system. Early post-hatch feeding is essential not only for normal growth and development but also for maintaining homeostasis. Early feeding of chicks can provide readily available energy to assist in restoring hepatic glycogen stores and maintain high body temperature during initial post-embryonic days . In contrast, higher inclusion of anti-nutrient like non-starch polysaccharides during the early growth period can deteriorate the feed efficiency and overall productivity of growing chickens . Due to the practical perspective of feeding program and due to limited information on the early nutritional requirement, poultry hatchlings (e.g., chicks, ducklings, and turkey poults) are fed starter diet after hatching till 2–4weeks . Several investigators have reported that chicken weight at 6–7 weeks had the linear relationship with their weight in the first week and it was not due to the breeder age and day-old chicken weight . The pre-starter feed could be more expensive than starter feed, but such feeding last only for a shorter period of 3–4 days and has more favorable effect on the performance of birds . Broiler feeding in the first few days of life is one of the priorities that could affect growth, feed efficiency, uniformity, and finally the profit of farmers. Nutrient utilization in chicks at an early stage is dependent on digestion and absorption of nutrients in the GIT . Improved performance has been observed in broilers by feeding pre-starter containing carbohydrate and fat during the first hours of chicken life . Some pre-starter diets are prepared with more focus on digestible nutrients than the total requirements, and it can precondition the chick to later digest complex substrates once they acquire matured enzyme production in the GIT . Since highly digestible alternative substrates tend to be expensive, the use of different enzymes combination or the higher activity of enzymes than those applied in later phases of diet could improve the productive performance of birds. However, limited work has been conducted to date to estimate the nutrients requirement of first week chicks that could outperform in terms of market weight and disease resistance compared with those fed starter diet . The GIT, especially the small intestine of poultry has the highest post-hatch relative growth during the first week growing period . Therefore, an early feed deprivation can lead to a decreased intestinal enterocyte length and villus surface area which negatively affects nutrient utilization and growth . Early feeding is expected to influence immune development either by providing nutrients for cell proliferation and differentiation or by providing substrates for antigenic and immunomodulator activity leading to the production of several immunoglobulins . It is understood that early access to nutrients is essential for a sound immunity and improved health of chicks and poults . By managing a proper nutritional strategy, a specific stimulus can be generated to guide this immune system toward a more appropriate and desired direction. The requirement of enhanced immunocompetence becomes exceptionally important in the view of reducing the dependence on antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). One of the suitable alternatives to feeding AGPs can be a supplemental chicken cytokine . Also, early access to feed supplemented with mannanoligosaccharides and acidifier have been reported to improve the development of intestinal morphology and immune response of chickens to C. perfringens challenge compared to early feed restricted chicks . Recently, in a study on nursery pigs, Tiwari et al. reported that the use of NSP degrading enzymes modulated the production of tight junction proteins that maintain the intestinal barrier function and hence can prevent the permeability of the gut to invading pathogens. However, Mateos et al. reviewed literatures on the effect of early feed access or restriction and dietary changes in the prestarter diet and concluded that the difference in the productivity tends to disappear with increasing age of birds. Still, there is a scarcity of information on early nutritional modification and most of the studies until now have focused on early access of chicks to feed. Further research is warranted to determine if early prestarter diet would be worthy of optimizing metabolic homeostasis in poultry for prospective maximal growth and feed efficiency.
Why In-Ovo feeding ?
- Depletion of all nutrients during hatching process.
2. Late access to feed / fasting.
3. Immature gastro intestinal tract in chicks.
4. 2-5% of hatchlings do not survive the critical post hatch period due to limited body reserves.
5. Stunted growth in chicks during initial phase i.e 24-48 Hrs post hatch.
6. Weight loss between hatching & removal of chicks from hatcher is approx.0.18g/hr.
7. Embryonic period & first week represents a larger portion i.e 45% of the whole life span of the broiler(Anthony et al.,1989 ;Bigot et al., 2003) .
8. Body weight of broilers is increased three to four fold during the first week.
9. Considerable changes in gut & muscle weight (Jin et al.,1998).
10. Yolk is the sole source of energy & nutrition during incubation, it is rich in lipids & low in protein & carbohydrates.
11. After hatch yolk is absorbed through both the yolk sac membrane and Meckel’s diverticulum (Santos et al., 2010) .
Insufficient Nutrient Supply
Most people think the first meal the chick consumes is when it hatches, but in-fact the first meal is when that embryo consumes the amniotic fluid as it hatches” .
- Modern broiler increases its body weight by 50 folds from hatch until market age.
- Deficiency of glucose towards the end of incubation because of high requirement for hatching activities (Christensen et al., 2001; Freeman 1965; John et al.,1987).
- Egg production and other stress.
IN OVO FEEDING
“Injecting Nutrients into the Amnion during Incubation of Egg”
- The timing and form of nutrients supplied post-hatch is critical for development of gastrointestinal tract
- Providing feed to the developing embryo which affect the performance of hatching chicks.
- Many potential nutrient supplements can be included in the in-ovo feeding
- Carbohydrate v ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate (HMB)
- Vitamins and minerals
- Amino acids Degree of response to in Ovo-Feeding
- Breeder hen age
- Egg size
- Incubation conditions (Source :-Ferket, 2004).
How to make the hole in egg ?
- During in ovo injection, a small hole poked in the large end/narrow end of the egg using a needle.
- The embryo need more oxygen than can be provided through the tiny holes (pores) in the shell.
- Making the injection hole allows oxygen to flow freely into the egg and increased hatchability.
Applications in in-ovo technique Inovoject Machine
- EMBREX has developed and marketed the INOVOJECT, an automated egg injection machine that improves poultry production efficiency
- This smaller device can inject between 12,000 to 20,000 eggs per hour
Advantages
- Improves digestive capacity (Chen et al.,2009 )
- Increases growth rate and feed efficiency (S.K. Bhanja et al., 2011)
- Reduces post hatch mortality and morbidity (Foye et al.,2008 )
- Improves immune response to enteric agents (Oliveira.,2008)
- Reduces incidence of developmental skeletal disorders (Uni et al., 2010)
- Increases muscle development and breast muscle yield (Uni et al., 2009 )
- Development of critical tissues of the perinatal chick about 2-3 days (Ferket et al.,2009 )
- Increased villus dimensions & pancreatic activity for carbohydrate digestion
- Reduce the cost of production per kg of consumable poultry meat (Uni and Ferket 2003)
- It also enhance the protective function of enteric mucosa ( Oliveira., 2010) v In ovo injection of Vitamin A & C may influence the embryonic development Vitamin E or B 1 required for early post hatch growth Vitamin E & B6 has role in immunocompitence of broilers (Bhanja et al 2012)
- Improves bone development (Uni et al., 2009)
- Enhances expression of nutrient transporters, SGLT-1, PEPT-1 (Tako et al., 2010)
- Advances morphometic development of the intestinal tract and mucin barrier (Smirnov et al., 2009).
Future prospects of in-ovo feeding
The methodology is an emerging field, and research associated with both in-ovo feed and in-ovo stimulation are becoming more prolific and established. A number of factors described below suggest that industry will move towards adopting the methodology.
1) Breeding programs currently focus on improving feed conversion ratio (FCR), that is the kg feed an animal uses to produce a kg of product (rather than being concerned primarily with how to maximize the poultry body weight). This is due to the increasing cost for feed, which accounts for 70% of the total cost in poultry production. In-ovo feed improves FCR by ~ 1 points (10 grams of feed less per kg meat).
2) Growth performance and meat yield of commercial broilers and turkey has improved linearly by about 1% each year, and 85% of this improvement is attributed to genetics and 15% to nutrition. Although genetic selection dictates the genes that are inherited by progeny, there is awareness today that nutrition and management may influence how those inherited genes are expressed. Many of the recent studies focus on the use of in-ovo feed and stimulations to enhance tolerance to immunological, environmental or oxidative stress and metabolic disorders by epigenetic programming.
3) Some global markets (e.g., the EU) have withdrawn the use of antibiotic growth promoters (sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics) for poultry. Poultry producers are thus facing the challenge of compensating for lost product and profit via alternative routes.
4) Poultry nutrition is moving towards higher standards, and parameters such as economic sustainability, consumer confidence and food security are dictating the market. Programmed in ovo nutrition increases production efficiency that is so important to poultry producers, but there is also evidence that it improves the meat quality consumers demand. Broilers that have been raised on a programmed nutrition strategy have reduced carcass fat and produce breast meat that has more appealing color, less drip losses during storage, improved oxidative stability, and lower cooking losses.In ovo feeding offers promise of sustaining progress in production efficiency and welfare of commercial poultry.
- Selection for fast growth rate and meat yield may favour the modern broiler to become a more altricial.
- Proper early nutrition and in ovo feeding may help these birds adopt to carbohydrate –based diet and metabolism of at hatch.
- In ovo feeding has established a new science of neonatal nutrition and we are gaining greater understanding of the developmental transition from embryo to viable chicks.
Compiled & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
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Reference-On Request.
