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 (350) on the embryonic and post-hatch growth performance in broiler chickens. On 14^th embryonic day, 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 and another two groups were used as sham control (0.5 ml sterile water) and un-injected control. 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. Antibody titer against ND vaccine was higher in It is concluded that vitamin A and C can influence the embryonic development, whereas, vitamin E and B₁ may be required for early post-hatch growth and vitamin E or B₆ can improve immunocompetence in broiler chickens.