Response of broiler chicken to in ovo administration of inorganic salts of zinc, selenium and copper or their combination

Abstract

This study determined the hatchability, post-hatch growth performance, immune response and bone morphometry of broiler chicken to in ovo administration of inorganic salts of zinc, selenium, copper or their combination. A total of 330 fertile eggs of Cobb broiler strain were procured from commercial breeder hatchery, fumigated, weighed and set in the incubator. The eggs were candled on the 14th day of incubation and distributed into five treatment groups: Control (without in ovo administration), Group II, in ovo administration of 80 µg.egg-1 inorganic zinc; Group III, in ovo administration of 0.3 µg.egg-1 inorganic selenium; Group IV, in ovo administration of 16 µg.egg-1 inorganic copper and Group V, in ovo administration with the combination of the inorganic salts of zinc, selenium and copper. The in ovo administration was carried out on the 18th day. The post-hatch chicks were distributed into 5 treatment groups of 6 replicates containing 7 chicks each. Data obtained were subjected to Analysis of Variance in a completely randomized design. The results showed highest percentage of hatchability in Zn-injected hatching eggs. The final weight of birds from Zn-injected eggs was significantly (P < 0.05) highest on day 7. On day 35, the final weight and weight gain were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the in ovo administration of Zn, Se, Cu and their combination with the highest values obtained in birds on Cu-injected eggs. Birds from Zn-injected eggs, Cu-injected eggs and eggs on the combination of the inorganic salts had significantly (P < 0.05) highest proportion of heart than obtained in the control. The tibiae ash of birds from Zn and Se-injected eggs recorded the highest values of 40.96 and 40.37 %, respectively, while the lowest value (35.47 %) was recorded in the tibiae of birds from eggs injected with the combination of the inorganic salts. It was concluded that Zn impacts mostly on hatchability, but the combination of the mineral sources at the ratio injected impacted negatively the growth performance of the broiler chickens.