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Dose response to betaine dietary inclusion in broiler chicks up to 40 day of age

Published: September 12, 2014
By: Mike Bedford (AB Vista)
Summary

A trial was designed to determine the response to betaine supplementation of maize - soya bean meal based diets at up to 5kg/tonne in broiler chicks up to 40 days of age. Birds were fed one of 5 diets containing graded levels of betaine (0, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5g/kg) from day of hatch and performance parameters measured weekly. Excreta was collected on day 21 and day 40 for assessment of AME and Nitrogen retention and 2 birds per pen were sacrificed on D21 and D40 for quantification of serum uric acid.
There were no significant differences in performance observed across the dietary treatments. However, AME and nitrogen retention were significantly improved in the highest betaine supplemented diets (5g/kg) when compared with the control diet (0g/kg) at day 40. Serum uric acid was not significantly altered by betaine supplementation at D40, although there was a trend at D21 for serum uric acid to be higher in the 5g/kg supplemented birds when compared to those fed the control (0g/kg) diet.
This study shows that betaine supplementation at 5g/kg had a positive effect on energy and nitrogen metabolism of broilers up to day 40, with no deleterious effects on feed intake or bodyweight gain.

Keywords: Betaine, broilers, AME, Nitrogen, uric acid

Betaine (tri-methyl glycine) is a methyl donor which supplies the methyl groups for methionine production. It therefore may be able to support higher levels of growth in diets based on vegetable protein sources, which tend to be deficient in glycine and serine. There is evidence that betaine can improve nutrient digestibility by supporting intestinal function and growth (Eklund et al., 2005)

Betaine is an osmoprotectant and commonly used to overcome heat stress in poultry due to its action as an osmolyte to increase water retention. It is also a compensatory solute which has the effect of enhancing protein stability and can counter the denaturing effect of urea (Yancey and Burg, 1990). Betaine has been shown to increase lean muscle mass and decrease fat in poultry (Zhan et al., 2006).
A trial was designed to determine the response to feeding diets with increasing levels of betaine supplementation up to 5kg/tonne, on performance characteristics, apparent metabolisable energy (AME), nitrogen retention and serum uric acid content in broiler chicks up to 40 days of age.

Methods

270 male Ross 308 chicks were fed one of 5 trial diets containing graded levels of betaine (0, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5g/kg) from day of hatch until day 40. Two diet phases were formulated using a maize-soya bean meal base; starter crumb (D0-21) and finisher pellet (D21-40). Protein, fat, ash and energy were formulated to meet the requirements of the age and strain of the bird as follows for starter crumb – Protein 20%, Fat 4.5%, Ash 5.5% and Energy 16.5MJ/kg; and for finisher crumb – Protein 19%, Fat 5.4%, Ash 4.8% and Energy 16.8MJ/kg. Each diet was fed to 9 pens of 6 birds, with one pen considered one replicate. Birds were raised from day of hatch in wide mesh sided pens of 0.64m2 with wood shavings as bedding substrate and feed and water (from nipple drinkers) available ad libitum.
Birds and feed were weighed weekly to calculate bodyweight gain per bird (BWG) and feed intake per bird (FI), and subsequently feed conversion ratio (FCR). Excreta was collected per pen, over a 48 hour period from wire mesh topped floor trays from days 20 and 39, and the collected excreta was dried at 80oC for 5 days then ground before analysis. Excreta samples were analysed for energy (via bomb calorimetry), nitrogen content (via Dumas) and titanium dioxide content (via the method of Short et al., 1996) to calculate nitrogen retention and AME. Two birds per pen were culled at D21 and D40 by cervical dislocation and blood samples collected immediately post mortem by cardiac venepuncture, and pooled into one tube per pen. Blood tubes were allowed to clot before centrifugation to separate serum (2000g, 10 min). Serum was analysed for uric acid content using an Amplex red assay (Invitrogen) as per the kit directions. Statistical analysis was carried out using one way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc testing where appropriate after KS testing to confirm normality.

Results

No significant performance differences were recorded between the diets for any individual week or the whole trial period from D0-40 (Table 1).
Table 1: Bodyweight gain (BWG), Feed intake (FI) and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of broiler chicks fed graded levels of Betaine at D40
 Dose response to betaine dietary inclusion in broiler chicks up to 40 day of age - Image 1
AME and N retention were both significantly increased in the 5g/kg Betaine diet at D40 when compared to the control diet (no added Betaine) (Table 2).

Table 2: Apparent metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention of broiler chicks fed graded levels of Betaine from day of hatch to day 40.
Dose response to betaine dietary inclusion in broiler chicks up to 40 day of age - Image 2 
No significant differences in serum uric acid were recorded at D40 (Table 3), although at D21 there was a trend that serum uric acid was greater in the 5g/kg Betaine supplemented diet compared with the control diet (0g/kg).

Table 3: Serum uric acid content of birds fed graded levels of Betaine at Day 21 and 40
Dose response to betaine dietary inclusion in broiler chicks up to 40 day of age - Image 3
Conclusions

Although several authors have found improvements in bodyweight gain and FCR with betaine supplementation in poultry (Hassan et al., 2005; Waldroup et al., 2006), these findings were not reproduced in this study. However, other studies have also found no effect with betaine supplementation (Rostagno and Pack, 1996), or positive effects only with diets containing inadequate methionine (Pillai et al., 2006). Also in methionine deficient diets, betaine supplementation has been shown to reduce serum uric acid concentration in 22 d old broilers (Zhan et al., 2006) which is the opposite of the results found at D21 in this study. However by D40 there was no effect on serum uric acid of betaine supplementation.

The improved energy metabolism and nitrogen retention described in this study may be due to higher amino acid availability for protein deposition (McDevitt et al., 2000), or improved osmotic support for intestinal cells (Eklund et al., 2005). Studies on piglets have shown improved ileal protein digestibility with betaine supplemented diets (Eklund et al., 2006).
It has been suggested that betaine may be advantageous when conditions are challenging physiologically, such as during high growth, disease or heat stress (Kidd et al., 1997), or when diets are low in supplemental methionine. However this study suggests a potential benefit for betaine supplementation in improving nutrient digestibility of chicks fed nutritionally adequate diets in a non-challenging environment.

References

EKLUND, M., BAUER, E., WAMATU, J., MOSENTHIN, R. (2005) Potential nutritional and physiological functions of betaine in monogastric animals. Nutrition Research Reviews 18: 31-48

EKLUND, M., MOSENTHIN, R., TAFAJ, M., WATATU, J. (2006) Effects of betaine and condensed molasses solubles on nitrogen balance and nutrient digestibility in piglets fed diets deficient in methionine and low in compatible osmolytes. Archives of Animal Nutrition 60: 289-300

HASSAN, R.A., ATTIA, Y.A., EL-GANZORY, E.H. (2005) Growth, carcass quality and serum constituents of slow growing chicks as affected by betaine addition to diets containing 1. Different levels of choline. International Journal of Poultry Science 4: 840-850

KIDD, M.T., FERKET, P.R., GARLICH, J.D. (1997) Nutritional and osmoregulatory functions of betaine. Worlds Poultry Science Journal 53: 125-139

MCDEVITT, R.M., MACK, S., WALLIS, I.R. (2000) Can betaine partially replace or enhance the effect of methionine by improving broiler growth and carcass characteristics? British Poultry Science 41: 1014-1019

PILLAI, P.B., FANATICO, A.C., BEERS, K.W., BLAIR, M.E., EMMERT, J.L. (2006) Homocysteine remethylation in young broilers fed varying levels of methionine, choline and betaine. Poultry Science 85: 90-95

ROSTAGNO, H.S. AND PACK, M. (1996) Can betaine replace supplemental DL-methionine in broiler diets? Journal of Applied Poultry Research 5: 150-154

SHORT, F.J, GORTON, P., WISEMAN, J., BOORMAN, K.N. (1996) Determination of titanium dioxide added as an inert marker in chicken digestibility studies. Animal Feed Science and Technology 59: 215-221

WALDROUP, P.W., MOTL, M.A., YAN, F., FRITTS, C.A. (2006) Effects of betaine and choline on response to methionine supplementation to broiler diets formulated to industry standards. Journal of Applied Poultry Research 15: 58-71

YANCEY, P.H., BURG, M.B. (1990) Counteracting effects of urea and betaine in mammalian cells in culture. American Journal of Physiology 258: R198-204

ZHAN, X. X.A., LI, J.X., XU, Z.R., ZHAO, R.Q. (2006) Effects of methionine and betaine supplementation on growth performance, carcase composition and metabolism of lipids in male broilers. British Poultry Science 47: 576-580
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Authors:
Mike Bedford
AB Vista
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