In ovo injection of soy isoflavones on hatching performance and intestinal development of newly hatched chicks.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of in ovo injection of soy isoflavones (ISF) on hatchability, body weight, antioxidant status and intestinal development of newly hatched broiler chicks. One hundred and eighty fertile eggs were divided as follows: the control group, 3 mg/egg ISF (low dose) and 6 mg/egg ISF (high dose) on the 18th day of incubation. The results demonstrated that in ovo inclusion of 6 mg of ISF significantly increased hatchability and hatch weight. Both doses of ISF inclusion elevated the serum glutathione peroxidase and slightly decreased malondialdehyde compared to the control group. The high dose of ISF brings higher villus height and a higher villus/crypt ratio in chicks. Moreover, the mRNA levels of tumour necrosis factor- α and interferon-gamma in the spleen were significantly decreased. The ISF treatments showed an improvement in intestinal enzyme expression levels of sucrose isomaltase and mucin 2  as well as tight junction protein (TJ) mRNA expression of claudin-1 at high doses of ISF (p < 0.05) when compared with the other groups. Furthermore, the mRNA level of IGF-1 was increased in the high doses of ISF compared to the control. Overall, these findings indicate that in ovo administration of ISF on the 18th day of incubation enhances hatchability, antioxidant status and intestinal morphometrics in hatched chicks and modulates the expression of proinflammatory cytokines, TJs and insulin-like growth factor. In addition, the sustainability of antioxidants and other positive effects of ISF may increase chick viability and growth performance.

Effect of in ovo glyphosate injection on embryonic development, serum biochemistry, antioxidant status and histopathological changes in newly hatched chicks.

This study aimed to investigate the potential toxic effects of pure glyphosate or Roundup® on hatchability, serum biochemistry and histopathological observation of the liver and kidney of newly hatched chicks. On day six, a total of 225 fertile eggs were obtained from Huafeng breeder hens. The eggs were randomly divided into three treatments: (a) the control group injected with deionized water, (b) the glyphosate group injected 10 mg pure glyphosate/Kg egg mass and (c) the Roundup group injected 10 mg the active ingredient glyphosate in Roundup® /Kg egg. The results showed a decrease of hatchability rate in chicks treated with Roundup® (66%). In addition, no significant change was observed in body weights, yolk sac weight and relative weight organs except the liver and kidney were significantly increased with groups treated with glyphosate and Roundup® compared to the control group. The results showed that serum protein profiles were linearly significantly increased of serum phosphor, uric acid, aspirate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase in groups treated with Roundup® , as well as the serum concentrations of triglyceride altered after treatment with glyphosate. Furthermore, oxidative stress was observed in the treated chicks, the glyphosate and Roundup® induced changes of the content of malondialdehyde in both the liver and kidney, moreover decrease of glutathione peroxidase, total superoxide dismutase and catalase activity in the kidney tissue and serum. Additionally, changes also happened in the histomorphology of the liver and kidney tissue of the treated chicks. It can be concluded that Roundup® as a probable decrease of hatchability. Exposure to glyphosate alone or Roundup® caused liver and kidney histopathological alterations, serum parameters imbalances and oxidative stress, also induced a variety of liver and kidney biochemical alterations that might impair normal organ functioning in newly hatched chicks.

Effects of dietary sodium butyrate on reproduction in adult breeder roosters.

Sodium butyrate (SB) is a novel feed additive in poultry production. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of SB on the reproductive performance of the rooster. Three hundred 22-week-old roosters were randomly divided into 2 dietary treatment groups of 6 pen replicates, a basal diet (control) group and a basal diet with SB gruop. The supplementation of SB was carried out through 23 consecutive weeks from 22 to 45 weeks of age. During this period, the live-weight was measured weekly while semen samples were collected every two weeks. Three time-points were chosen for analysis (30, 35 and 45 weeks of age). The results showed that SB improved the semen volume and sperm motility at 30 and 35 weeks of age (P < 0.05), increased the sperm concentration and decreased the abnormal sperm percentage during the whole experimental period (P < 0.05). These improvements were accompanied by increased testosterone levels at 30 and 35 weeks of age (P < 0.05). Moreover, dietary supplementation of SB also increased the enzyme activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) at 30 and 35 weeks of age and superoxide dismutase (SOD) at 45 weeks of age in the testes of roosters (P < 0.05). These results suggest that SB may promote testicular growth by increasing the antioxidant capacity and testosterone hormone secretion in adult roosters.