Effect of In Ovo Injection of Lactobacillus acidophilus on the Serum Bio-Chemistry of Commercial Broiler Chicken

Abstract

A biological trial was conducted to study the effect of in ovo injection of Lactobacillus acidophilus to 18 days old chicken embryo on the serum bio-chemistry of commercial broiler chicken. Broiler hatching eggs (Cobb-400) with uniform weight were randomly selected, divided in to five treatments each with 6 replicates of 24 eggs each and were incubated in forced draft incubator under standard conditions. In ovo injection was carried out on 18^th day of incubation, out of total 720 eggs, 144 eggs served as non-injected control (T₁), 144 eggs served as sham control and the remaining 432 eggs (144 for each treatment group) were injected with 0.2 ml of 1x10⁶ Lactobacillus acidophilus (T3), 0.2 ml of 1x10⁹ Lactobacillus acidophilus (T4) and 0.2ml of 1x10¹² Lactobacillus acidophilus (T5). The positive control group was injected with 0.2 ml of 0.9% normal saline solution. At hatch, 480 chicks were randomly selected (96 birds from each treatment) with six replicates of 16 birds each as per treatment wise. Data on total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDLC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) and triglycerides were estimated and subjected to statistical analysis. Sixth week serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides were significantly (P<0.01) decreased in L. acidophilus injected broilers. Whereas, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly (P<0.01) increased compared to control birds. Based on the results of the present study it can be concluded that the in ovo injection of Lactobacillus acidophilus reduced serum bad cholesterol and increased good cholesterol content of commercial broilers which may help in the production of designer meat.