Table 4.

Growth performance and apparent retention of dry matter (AR of DM) in broiler chickens hatched from eggs subjected to in ovo application of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on day 19 of incubation.

EGF, μg	Treatments1					SEM	P values2
	A	B	C	D	E		Punched	Injected	EGF
	-	-	0	80	160
Hatch BW, g/bird	44.8	47.2	46.4	46.2	45.4	0.53	0.02	0.88	0.44
Body weight gain, g/bird
Day 0–7	121	112	115	112	118	2.86	0.61	0.86	0.88
Day 8–14	272	269	263	262	264	4.77	0.21	0.08	0.26
Day 15–21	379	436	415	445	444	27.8	0.10	0.27	0.18
Day 0–21	773	817	794	822	825	27.1	0.18	0.64	0.22
Feed intake, g/bird
Day 0–7	141	136	136	140	139	2.83	0.83	0.90	0.71
Day 8–14	348	352	338	343	336	8.98	0.12	0.21	0.65
Day 15–21	549	634	624	603	582	20.8	0.12	0.51	0.85
Day 0–21	1,038	1,122	1,098	1,085	1,057	24.9	0.46	0.93	0.78
Feed conversion, g/g
Day 0–7	1.164	1.221	1.186	1.212	1.186	0.03	0.71	0.91	0.62
Day 8–14	1.277	1.306	1.284	1.308	1.273	0.03	0.79	0.92	0.75
Day 15–21	1.306	1.443	1.503	1.351	1.317	0.05	0.08	0.27	0.29
Day 0–21	1.276	1.367	1.383	1.317	1.283	0.03	0.29	0.54	0.18
AR of DM, %
Day 3–5	70.3	70.7	70.7	70.1	70.4	0.12	0.73	0.79	0.46
Day 17–19	74.2	74.9	74.4	75.0	74.2	0.17	0.54	0.94	0.90

¹A, intact (not punched and no injected); B, punched but not injected, and C to E, punched and injected with either EGF fermentation broth or EGF at 80 or 160 μg/kg of egg into amniotic sac.

²Preplanned comparison, punched, treatment 1 vs. 2; injected, treatment 2 vs. 3 to 5; EGF, treatments 3, 4 and 5. n = 6.