Effects of in-Ovo injection of pyridoxine, methionine and their combination on hatchability, chick hatch weight and production traits in broiler breeder eggs

This study was conducted to clarify the effects of in-Ovo injection of pyridoxine, methionine, and their combination on broiler breeder eggs hatchability, chick weight, and production attributes. On day 18 of incubation, 400 Ross 308 breeder fertile eggs were weighted and allocated to 5 treatments with 4 replicates of 20 eggs each, in a CRD design. The treatments included: negative control (no injection), positive control (injection of 0.1 ml of Sodium chloride), injection 0.5 ml of pyridoxine (B6), injection of 0.5 ml methionine (Met), injection of 0.5 ml pyridoxine and methionine (B6+Met). The solutions were injected into the amniotic fluid of eggs. Upon hatch, hatchling chicks counted, weighted and then transferred to farm and reared to 42 d of age. Feed intake, weight gain and feed efficiency ratio were recorded.The results of this study indicated that, hatchability, day-old chick weight and hatched chick body weight / Initial egg weightshowed no significant differences (P>0.05). No significant differences was obtained for feed intake, except at 0-3 weeks, while compared to PC, B6+ Met, showed significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion was that, under the condition of present study, injection of vitamin pyridoxine, methionine and their combination had no significant effects on hatchability and day old chick, despite feed reduction in B6 and Met compared to PC, no significant differences were observed in weight gain and feed conversion ratio, probably due to better efficiency of feed in chicken hatched from treated eggs.