Impact of spraying eggs with betaine after exposure to short-term thermal stress during early embryogenesis on pre and post-hatch performance of Japanese quail

Abstract

It is essential to understand and manage environmental factors for good quail production and welfare. One of the most important environmental stressors that hinder quail productivity is heat stress. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of spraying Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) eggs with betaine after exposure to short-term high temperature during early embryogenesis on pre and post-hatch performance of quail. A total of 750 eggs were equally divided into two groups. Eggs in the first group were incubated at normal incubation temperature (37.5 °C/NIT), while those in the second group were incubated at high incubation temperature (39.0 °C/HIT) for 3 h daily from day 4-6 of incubation. Eggs in both groups were subjected to five treatments, NC (negative control), PC sprayed distilled water (positive control), while B0.5, B1, and B2 treatments were sprayed with distilled water supplemented with 500, 1000, and 2000 mg betaine/L, respectively. The chick weight at hatch, slaughter weight, and first egg weight was significantly impaired by the HIT treatment. The HIT group revealed a significant increase in cloacal temperature, H/L ratio, liver enzymes, triglyceride, and cholesterol and a significant decrease in hatchability, T3 hormone, and blood protein levels than the NIT group. Regarding betaine effects, the embryonic mortality rates, hatchability, hatched chick weight, and oviduct percentage in groups treated with 1000 or 2000 mg betaine/L were significantly improved compared with the control. Also, spraying betaine at 1000 or 2000 mg/L significantly increased blood protein and triiodothyronine (T3) hormone levels and significantly decrease liver enzyme levels and total feed consumption compared with the untreated group. The right/total ventricle ratio (RV/TV) of quail in HIT group was significantly increased, while betaine treatment significantly decreased this ratio. Considering these results, it is strongly suggested that spraying of betaine on eggs at 2000 mg/L optimizes Japanese quail performance.

Keywords: Betaine; Early embryogenesis; Japanese quail; Reproduction; Thermal stress.