In ovo feeding of methionine affects antioxidant status and growth-related gene expression of TETRA SL and Hungarian indigenous chicks

Abstract

Methionine (Met) plays a substantial role in poultry due to its involvement in several pathways, including enhancing antioxidant status and improving growth performance and health status. This study examined how in ovo feeding of Met affects hatching performance, antioxidant status, and hepatic gene expression related to growth and immunity in the TETRA-SL LL hybrid (TSL) commercial layer and Hungarian partridge colored hen (HPC) indigenous genotypes. The eggs were injected with saline, DL-Met, and L-Met on 17.5 days of embryonic development. The results showed that the in ovo feeding of DL-Met significantly increased the hatching weight and ferric reducing the ability of the plasma (FRAP) compared with L-Met. The in ovo feeding of either Met source enhanced the liver health and function and hepatic antioxidant status of the chicks. The genotype's differences were significant; the TSL genotype had better hatching weight, an antioxidant defense system, and downregulated growth-related gene expression than the HPC genotype. In ovo feeding of either Met source enhanced the chicks' health status and antioxidant status, and DL-Met improved the hatching weight of the chicks more than L-Met. Genotype differences were significantly evident in the responses of growth performance, antioxidant status, blood biochemical parameters, and gene expression to Met sources.

Figure 1

Influence of in ovo injection of Met on the liver glutathione and total antioxidant capacity of TSL and HPC chicks at one day old. TSL, TETRA SL genotype; HPC, Hungarian partridge colored hen genotype. (A) Liver glutathione content, (B) liver total antioxidant capacity, (C) muscle glutathione content, (D) muscle total antioxidant capacity. Means with similar superscripts are not significantly different (P > 0.05) (Means ± SEMs, n = 8).

Figure 2

Genotype significantly influences the glutathione and total antioxidant capacity concentration in the liver and muscles. GSH, glutathione; TAC, total antioxidant capacity; TSL, TETRA SL genotype; HPC, Hungarian partridge colored hen genotype. (A) Liver glutathione content, (B) liver total antioxidant capacity, (C) muscle glutathione content, (D) muscle total antioxidant capacity. Means with similar superscript letters are not significantly different (P > 0.05) (Means ± SEMs, n = 32).

Figure 3

Effect of in ovo feeding of methionine on the liver gene expression of TSL and HPC chicks. (A) Insulin-like growth factor 1 gene expression. (B) Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor gene expression. (C) Growth hormone receptor gene expression. (D) TLR4 gene expression. TSL, TETRA SL genotype; HPC, Hungarian partridge colored hen genotype; IGF1, insulin-like growth factor 1; IGF1R, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor; GHR, growth hormone receptor; TLR4, toll-like receptor 4 (Means ± SEMs, n = 8).

Figure 4

Hepatic gene expression between the two genotypes. (A) Insulin-like growth factor 1 gene expression. (B) Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor gene expression. (C) Growth hormone receptor gene expression. (D) TLR4 gene expression. Means with different superscript letters are significantly different (P > 0.05). (Means ± SEMs, n = 32).

Figure 5

Linear discriminant analysis of hatching performance and gene expression parameters as the responses to in ovo feeding of Met during incubation. The ellipses in the figure represent the linear discriminant analysis’s 95% confidence interval for predicting sample classification. The parameters measured included mass-hatching body weight, heart weight (hw), liver weight (lw), relative heart weight (rhw), relative liver weight (rlw), insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), growth hormone receptor (GHR), and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).