Performance of broiler chicken in early life on methionine deficient feed with added choline and betaine

Abstract

The experiment was designed and conducted to evaluate the availability of betaine (betaine anhydrous 97%)
as methionine sparing for broilers. Two hundred and fifty day-old chicks were randomly divided into five
treatment groups which were divided into five replicates of ten chicks each. Primarily, a single starter ration
deficient in methionine was formulated using NRC standards. The five treatment groups were; (A) Positive
control supplemented with methionine, (B) Low Methionine (LM), (C) LM supplemented with choline at 0.17%,
(D) LM supplemented with Betaine (0.14%) and (E) LM with Betaine at 0.07% in the starter ration. Choline was
added at 700 mg/kg to Treatments A and B. Weight gain (WG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR)
data was collected on a weekly basis from 0 to 28 days. Statistical analyses of data revealed significant
differences among the treatment groups in FI, WG and FCR (P< 0.05). Supplementation of choline and betaine
to Treatment Groups B, C, D and E respectively did not show results as per Treatment A supplemented with
methionine. However, betaine supplementation showed better WG and FCR to Treatments B and C (P<0.05).
Inclusion rate of betaine had no significant effect (P>0.05).