Abstract
Modern strains of broiler chickens are selected for fast growth and are marketed anywhere from 36 to 49 days after a 21-day incubational period. For a viable healthy chick, all the necessary nutrients required for growth and development must be provided by the hen through the fertilized egg. The current feeding strategies for improved growth, health and productivity are targeted towards chicks after hatching. Considering the fact that developing chick embryo spends over 30 % of its total life span inside the hatching egg relying on nutrients deposited by the breeder hen, investigations on nutritional needs during pre-hatch period will improve embryonic health, hatchability and chick viability. In this context, investigations on hatching egg lipid quality is of utmost importance because, during incubation, egg fat is the major source of energy and sole source of essential omega-6 (n-6) and omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids to the chick embryo. Due to the unique roles of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids in growth, immune health, and development of central nervous system, this review will focus on the role of early exposure to essential fatty acids through maternal diet and hatching egg and its impact on progeny in meat-type broiler chickens.
Highlights
Hatching egg: chick’s “early diet” The hatching egg is a complex structure which provides physical and nutritional milieu to the embryo to sustain its growth into a healthy hatchling
Among the different lipids taken by the chick embryo, triacylglycerol serves as a source of energy while phospholipids serve as the essential structural precursors for membrane lipid bilayers [3]
All maternal Ig needed to protect hatching chicks must be present in the egg and transported from the yolk across the yolk sac into the circulation of the developing chicks. These results suggest that changes in linoleic:α-Linolenic acid (ALA) in the egg affects the passive immunity of hatching chicks [28]
Summary
Hatching egg: chick’s “early diet” The hatching egg is a complex structure which provides physical and nutritional milieu to the embryo to sustain its growth into a healthy hatchling. To assess the impact of early exposure to lipids through hatching eggs on progeny chicks, feeds containing different oil or oil seeds (as sources of essential n-3 or n-6 fatty acids) were fed to broiler breeder hens. These results provide direct evidence to substantiate the role of “early” dietary exposure to n-3 and n-6 fatty acids through hatching eggs in modulating tissue or cell membrane PUFA composition in progeny chicks.
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