The Importance of Maternal And/Or in Ovo Antioxidant Feeding for Gene Expression and Performance in Poultry

Abstract

At the present time, the nutrient requirements were increased with increasing of embryo metabolic rate according as the intensive selection applied to commercial poultry. Failure to meet this changing nutrient requirement causes adverse effects on parameters such as embriyonic development, hatching power, hatching quality and post-hatching performance. Poultry eggs contain large amounts of maternally-derived antioxidants that protect the embryo from oxidative damage caused by intense embryonic metabolism. There are few experimentally (in ovo and maternally feeding) studies have tested the effects of experimental change in yolk concentration of a major antioxidant on other antioxidant content of egg yolk, embryo and post hatch chick survive, whether, oxidative stress were affected from manipulation of antioxidants or not, to compare effects of this on postnatal chick development. At the same time, it has been reported that to increase breeder’s productivity and postnatal survival rate, breeders can transfer antioxidants from feed to egg as a part of complex epigenetic mechanism. Maternal and in ovo antioxidant feeding increase antioxidant level in the embryo tissues to be used by embryo in the critical period therefore it positively effects embryo viability, increases hatching weight and improves post-hatching feed consumption and yield. This positive effect was related to increase of the number of expressing genes with epigenetic effects, due to previous studies were determined that this effect was continuing for a few generations. In this review, articles on gene expression relationship with increased antioxidant concentration of embryo via maternal feeding or in ovo feeding have been reviwed. © 2017, Centenary University. All rights reserved.