In ovo feeding of creatine pyruvate increases hatching weight, growth performance, and muscle growth but has no effect on meat quality in broiler chickens

To investigate the effects of in ovo feeding (IOF) of creatine pyruvate (CrPyr) on growth performance, muscle growth, and meat quality of broiler chickens, 960 eggs were randomly allocated into 3 treatments: (1) non-injected control, (2) saline treatment injected with 0.6 mL 0.75% physiological saline, and (3) CrPyr treatment injected with 0.6 mL 0.75% physiological saline containing 12 mg CrPyr/egg on 17.5 d of incubation. After hatching, 120 male chickens per treatment were selected and randomly assigned to 8 cages for a 42-d feeding trial. The selected chickens had body weight close to the average of their pooled group. No difference in hatchability was observed among treatments, whereas the hatching weight, body weight gain, and feed intake in CrPyr treatment were greater than those of the control and saline treatments (P < 0.05). The broiler chickens in CrPyr treatment gained greater total and relative weight, myofiber diameter, and cross-sectional area of pectoral muscle on 21 and 42 d (P < 0.05). However, there were no differences on the concentrations of creatine and phosphocreatine in pectoral muscle of broiler chickens on 21 and 42 d, as well as the meat quality among treatments. In conclusion, IOF of CrPyr improved the hatching weight, growth performance, and pectoral muscle weight of broiler chickens. Nevertheless, IOF of CrPyr did not affect the meat quality of pectoral muscle of broiler chickens on 42 d post-hatch.