Effect of in ovo injection of vitamins on the chick weight and post-hatch growth performance in broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted to study the effect in ovo injection of vitamins on the embryonic and post-hatch growth performance. Fertile eggs (n=350) were weighed, distributed in to 7 groups and set in force-draft incubator. On 14 th ED five groups were injected with 100 IU Vitamin-A, 0.5 IU Vitamin-E, 50 mg Vitamin-C, 100 μg Vitamin B1 and 100 μg Vitamin B6 dissolved in 0.5 ml of sterile water. Rest two groups were used as sham control (0.5 ml sterile water) and un-injected control. The chicks hatched from the above experiment were housed in battery brooders and provided standard diet and other managemental practices. Hatchability on fertile egg set basis in the Vitamin B6 group was apparently higher (81.5%) than sham control (72%) and un-injected control (80%). Vitamin E and Vitamin B1 injected groups had more number of deaths just before piping of chicks. Chick weight to egg weight ratio (%) was higher (P<0.01) in chicks injected with Vitamin-A (72.66%), Vitamin-C (72.26%) than uninjected control (70.94%). Body weight was more at 14 and 28 d of age (P<0.01) in Vitamin-E and B1 injected groups than un-injected control. However, FCR did not differ among treatment groups. It may be concluded from the above experiment that vitamin A and vitamin C may influence the embryonic development, whereas, vitamin-E and vitamin B1 may be required for early post-hatch growth. __________________________________________________________________________________