Table 3.

Effects of in ovo feeding of α-ketoglutaric acid (AKG) on the absolute and relative organ weights of the gizzard, heart, liver, proventriculus, and yolk sac in chicks at hatching *.

Parameters	Treatments				Pooled SEM	p-Value
	0 AKG	0.5 AKG	1.0 AKG	1.5 AKG		ANOVA	Lin	Quad
Absolute organ weight (g)
Liver	0.70 a	0.90 b	0.80 ab	0.88 b	0.022	0.002	0.04	0.178
Yolk sac	4.47	3.68	3.49	4.38	0.172	0.091	0.767	0.039
Gizzard	1.68	1.86	1.82	1.82	0.047	0.609	0.377	0.377
Proventriculus	0.34	0.31	0.32	0.29	0.015	0.687	0.331	0.917
Heart	0.22 a	0.29 b	0.23 a	0.27 ab	0.008	0.006	0.32	0.436
Relative organ weight (g/g BW)
Liver	1.97 a	2.47 b	2.24 ab	2.43 b	0.062	0.008	0.035	0.185
Yolk sac	12.52	10.06	9.83	12.07	0.461	0.072	0.715	0.009
Gizzard	4.72	5.09	5.14	5.04	0.136	0.716	0.414	0.401
Proventriculus	0.94	0.84	0.91	0.79	0.043	0.582	0.316	0.914
Heart	0.62 a	0.79 b	0.64 a	0.74 ab	0.021	0.006	0.277	0.387

* At 17.5 day of incubation, eggs were injected with 0.6 mL AKG solution with a concentration of 0% (0 AKG), 0.5% (0.5 AKG), 1.0% (1.0 AKG), and 1.5% (1.5 AKG). Chicks obtained from each treatment group at hatching were sampled and the different organ weights were recorded. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 6). ^a,b: means bearing different letters differ significantly in the same row (p < 0.05). Abbreviations: BW, body weight; Lin, linear effect; Quad, quadratic effect.