In ovo sodium butyrate administration differentially impacts growth performance, intestinal barrier function, immune response, and gut microbiota characteristics in low and high hatch-weight broilers

Table 2 Effects of in ovo sodium butyrate administration on the feed intake and feed conversion ratio of broiler chickens with different hatch weights

Item¹		Average daily feed intake, g/bird/d				Feed conversion ratio
Item¹		0–14 d	15–35 d	36–42 d	0–42 d	0–14 d	15–35 d	36–42 d	0–42 d
HW	SB
HHW	Control	35.3	134.9	178.3	113.7	1.46	1.89^ab	2.51^bc	1.96
	SB1	34.9	132.9	180.9	113.6	1.39	1.92^ab	2.70^ab	2.00
	SB3	33.9	134.1	177.6	112.8	1.41	1.74^b	2.35^cd	1.83
	SB5	33.4	142.1	184.2	117.7	1.68	2.27^a	2.13^d	2.11
LHW	Control	34.2	133.1	181.4	113.5	1.47	2.10^a	2.69^ab	2.12
	SB1	35.2	132.9	181.6	114.0	1.27	1.89^ab	2.32^cd	1.86
	SB3	33.4	133.5	182.6	113.8	1.28	1.74^b	2.12^d	1.75
	SB5	33.8	136.2	177.8	113.5	1.44	1.89^ab	2.92^a	2.04
SD		3.27	4.17	3.72	5.07	0.177	0.210	0.301	0.174
Main effects
HW
HHW		34.4	135.9	180.2	114.4	1.49	1.96	2.42	1.98
LHW		34.2	133.9	180.9	113.7	1.37	1.91	2.51	1.94
SB
Control		34.8	133.9^b	179.9	113.6	1.46	1.99^a	2.60^a	2.04^b
SB1		35.1	132.9^c	181.3	113.7	1.33	1.91^ab	2.51^a	1.93^bc
SB3		33.6	133.8^b	180.1	113.2	1.35	1.74^b	2.24^b	1.79^c
SB5		33.6	139.1^a	181.0	115.6	1.56	2.08^a	2.53^a	2.08^a
P value
HW		0.882	0.165	0.668	0.770	0.069	0.448	0.181	0.537
SB		0.840	0.029	0.865	0.901	0.059	0.010	0.005	0.013
HW × SB		0.982	0.491	0.064	0.887	0.573	0.034	< 0.001	0.324

¹HW Hatch weight, SB Sodium butyrate inclusion level. Control: HHW or LHW chicks from eggs injected with 0.2 mL of 0.9% NaCl. SB1, SB3, SB5: HHW or LHW chicks from eggs injected with 0.2 mL of 0.1%, 0.3%, or 0.5% SB, respectively
The data are presented as the mean and pooled standard deviation (SD) (n = 6 pens/group)
^a–dValues with different superscripts in a column indicate statistical significance at P < 0.05 (two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test)

ISSN: 2049-1891