Modification of Growth and Gene expression in Coloured Broilers by Early Post-Hatch Micronutrients Supplementation

Abstract

The effect of early post-hatch additional dietary supplementation of Biotin and lysine (B+L), Folacin and lysine (F+L), Biotin (B) or Folacin (F) alone was studied in coloured broilers. Birds under dietary treatments received either control diet or supplemental feed with either additional 0.15 mg biotin or 0.55 mg folacin and with 1100 mg lysine/kg or without lysine for up to 14 days of age depending upon the treatments. The relative hepatic mRNA expression of Chicken Growth hormone (cGH), Insulin like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF-1 and 2) and Myostatin (MSTN) gene were quantified through real-time PCR at 7- and 14-days post-hatch. The results showed that body weight gain during 0-14 and 0-42 days improved (P < 0.001) with folacin and lysine supplementation, while FCR was better during 0-42 days. At 7 and 14 days, there was increase in mRNA expression of cGH and IGF-1 genes in all treatments with maximum expression in folacin + lysine group, while inverse relationship existed in Myostatin expression. However, IGF-2 mRNA expression did not corroborate with body weight gain in any treatments. In conclusion, dietary biotin, folacin and lysine supplementation to chicks during 0-14 days of age enhances early growth by modifying growth related genes expression.