Table 5.
Effects of in ovo feeding of N-acetyl-L-glutamate (NAG) on the intestinal morphology of broilers at hatch.1
| Item | Variables | Treatment groups |
SEM5 | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC2 | SC3 | NAG4 | ||||
| Duodenum | VH6 (μm) | 568.72 | 555.40 | 552.55 | 19.09 | 0.941 |
| CD7 (μm) | 95.17 | 97.38 | 101.12 | 2.63 | 0.673 | |
| VH/CD8 | 6.00 | 5.73 | 5.49 | 0.19 | 0.580 | |
| Jejunum | VH6 (μm) | 409.58 | 423.25 | 388.20 | 21.56 | 0.828 |
| CD7 (μm) | 88.17a | 76.27b | 74.96b | 2.34 | 0.025 | |
| VH/CD8 | 4.61 | 5.54 | 5.18 | 0.24 | 0.270 | |
| Ileum | VH6 (μm) | 250.48 | 246.68 | 234.30 | 4.31 | 0.364 |
| CD7 (μm) | 58.35 | 58.68 | 58.40 | 1.88 | 0.998 | |
| VH/CD8 | 4.38 | 4.23 | 4.01 | 0.15 | 0.650 | |
a–bMeans within a row without common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05) among the groups.
1
N = 6, one chickling from each replicate (38 fertile eggs).
2
NC: non-punctured control group.
3
SC: saline-injected control group (eggs injected with 300 μL of saline water at 17.5 D of incubation).
4
NAG: NAG solution–injected group (eggs injected with 300 μL of saline water containing NAG 1.5 mg/egg at 17.5 D of incubation).
5
SEM: standard error of the mean.
6
VH: villus height.
7
CD: crypt depth.
8
VH/CD = villus height (μm)/crypt depth (μm).