Effect of Amniotic Injection of N-Carbamylglutamate on Meat Quality of Broilers.

The current study was performed to determine the influence of amniotic injection of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on meat quality of pectoral muscle in broilers. A total of 792 alive broiler embryos at 17 d of incubation were assigned to three treatments randomly (non-injected control, saline-injected control, or NCG-injected treatment). The two injection treatments were an injection with 0.1 mL 0.85% aseptic saline alone or containing 2 mg NCG per egg at 17.5 d of incubation. After hatching, 72 healthy male chicks were selected from each treatment and housed in six pens for a 42 day feeding study. Pectoral muscles from six 42-day-old broilers were collected from each treatment group and were dissected for meat quality assays. The results showed that arginine contents in pectoral muscle in either free or hydrolytic form in the NCG group were higher than those in the non-injection control group (p < 0.05). In comparison to the non-injection or saline-injection control groups, NCG injection resulted in a lower lactic acid content in pectoral muscle (p < 0.05). Muscular antioxidant capacity in the NCG group was higher, as evidenced by the higher activity of catalase and glutathione peroxidase and lower content of malondialdehyde (p < 0.05). In addition, the group of in ovo administration of NCG had decreased drip loss and increased crude fat content in pectoral muscle in comparison to those of either control group (p < 0.05) and had enhanced crude protein content compared to that of the saline-injection control group (p < 0.05). Briefly, these results indicate that amniotic administration of NCG in the late incubation phase increased the arginine content, improved the nutritional properties, enhanced the antioxidant capacity, and improved the meat quality in the pectoral muscle of broilers. Amniotic injection of NCG may serve as a novel approach to improving the meat quality of broilers.

Effect of in ovo feeding of ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate on hatchability, muscle growth and performance in prenatal and posthatch broilers.

BACKGROUND: ß-Hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate (HMB) is the metabolite of leucine that plays an important role in muscle protein metabolism. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of in ovo feeding (IOF) of HMB at 7 days of incubation (DOI) via air cell or 18 DOI via amnion on hatchability, muscle growth and performance in prenatal and posthatch broilers. RESULTS: IOF of HMB via air cell at 7 DOI increased hatchability by 4.34% compared with the control (89.67% versus 85.33%). Birds in IOF groups exhibited higher body weight, average daily body weight gain and pectoral muscle percentage. Furthermore, IOF of HMB significantly increased the level of plasma growth hormone, insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1. Chicks hatched from IOF treatment had larger diameters of muscle fiber and higher mitotic activity of satellite cells at early posthatch age. IOF of HMB activated satellite cells by upregulation of mRNA expression of myogenic transcription factors, myogenic differentiation one (MyoD) and myogenin. Chicks hatched from air cell injection group had higher pectoral muscle percentage at 5 d posthatch and greater satellite cell mitotic activity at 7 d posthatch than counterparts from amnion injection group. CONCLUSIONS: IOF of HMB via amnion at 18 DOI or especially via air cell at 7 DOI could be used as an effective approach to enhance hatchability, productive performance and breast muscle yield in broilers. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Study of Raman scattering of plastic optical fiber].

The first order stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) spectrum of PMMA plastic optical fiber was given, and the characteristic of the first order Stokes spectrum was studied. The threshold and the spectrum width were measured. The formation mechanism of SRS was analyzed, and then the first order Stokes spectrum of plastic optical fiber and that of silica fiber were compared.