Abstract
In broilers challenged with coccidiosis, effects of in ovo vitamin D(3) (D(3)) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) (25OHD(3)) administration on their inflammatory response and small intestine morphology were evaluated. At 18 d of incubation (doi), a 50 μL volume of the following 5 in ovo injection treatments was administrated: non-injected (1) and diluent injected (2) controls, or diluent injection containing 2.4 μg D(3) (3) or 2.4 μg 25OHD(3) (4), or their combination (5). Four male broilers were randomly allocated to each of eight isolated replicate wire-floored battery cages at hatch, and birds were challenged at 14 d of age (doa) with a 20x live coccidial vaccine dosage. One bird from each treatment-replicate (40 birds in each of 8 replicates per treatment) was bled at 14 and 28 doa in order to collect blood for the determination of plasma IL-1β and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations. The duodenum, jejunum, and ilium from those same birds were excised for measurement of villus length, crypt depth, villus length to crypt depth ratio (VCR), and villus surface area. In ovo injection of 2.4 μg of 25OHD(3) resulted in a reduction in plasma NO levels as compared to all other treatments at 28 doa. Additionally, duodenal VCR increased in response to the in ovo injection of 25OHD(3) when compared to the diluent, D(3) alone, and the D(3) + 25OHD(3) combination treatments at two weeks post-challenge (28 doa). Therefore, it can be concluded that 2.4 μg of 25OHD(3), when administrated in ovo at 18 doi, may be used to decrease the inflammatory reaction as well as to enhance the small intestine morphology of broilers during a coccidiosis challenge.