Effect of betaine and air ammonia concentration on broiler performance, plasma corticosterone level, lymphoid organ weights and some haematological indices

Abstract

This study was initiated to examine the effect of betaine supplementation (1g/kg) on hematocrit level, erythrocyte and leukocyte number, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, plasma corticosterone, rectal temperature, relative lymphoid organ weights and average daily gain in broiler chickens reared in a poultry house under natural ambient conditions and high air ammonia level. A total of 100 broiler chickens at the age of 45 d were allocated into 2 groups: control and betaine supplemented. The broilers were kept on deep litter in windowless poultry house. The results of this study indicated no significant changes in terms of hematocrit, erythrocyte number, leukocyte number, lymphoid organ weights and average daily gain.Betaine supplemented broilers had lower heterophil/lymphocytes ratio at d8 (P<0.05) relative to control broilers inspite of the similar values of plasma corticosterone between the groups. Plasma corticosterone concentration in betaine supplemented broilers increased (P<0.05) at d 15, relative to d8. The observed increase in plasma corticosterone was not accompanied by increase in heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. These results are interpreted to suggest that the decreased heterophil/lymphocyte ratio in experimental broilers was due to the modulatory effects of ammonia on NO synthesis rather than to the modulatory effect of corticosterone.

The effect of full substitution of supplemental methionine with betaine in broiler nutrition on production and slaughter results

“…On the other hand, Attia et al (2005), based on the study of the ratio of added methionine and betaine in nutrition of slow growing chickens, reported that successful substitution of methionine with betaine is possible. Other researchers (Matthews and Southern, 2000;Hassan et al, 2005;Gudev et al, 2011) have indicated that in certain conditions, adding of betaine into the feed resulted in improvement of one or several parameters of productivity, primarily daily gain, feed conversion ratio and resistance of broilers. However, other studies report of minimum or no effect at all of betaine supplementation on performance of fattening poultry (Rostagno and Pack, 1996;Zulkifli et al, 2004).…”

“…Role of betaine as osmotic-regulator in the organism occurs at the cellular level where betaine acts as osmolyte and minimizes the loss of water from the cell, which can be of special importance in conditions of stress and dehydration of the organism caused by disease or high temperature (Matthews and Southern, 2000;Zulkifli et al,2004;Gudev et al, 2011).…”

“…Use of betaine in livestock nutrition can influence the resistance, productivity and carcass quality. However, addition of betaine in the feed resulted in some studies in improvement of daily gain, feed conversion, resistance to stress or carcass quality (Matthews and Southern, 2000;Hassan et al, 2005;Živković et al, 2007;Gudev et al, 2011), but in other studies it showed minimum or no effect on animal performance during fattening (Rostagno and Pack, 1996;Zulkifli et al, 2004;Eklund et al, 2005).…”

Pengaruh Polimorfisme Gen Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) SacII terhadap Toleransi Panas Itik Lokal Sumatera Barat

“…Menurut Emadi et al (2007) nilai konstan heterofil/limfosit adalah berada dikisaran 0,2-0,8 dengan nilai normal 0,5. Peningkatan nilai H/L disebabkan oleh peningkatan hormon stres yang disekresikan oleh kelenjar adrenal (Gudev et al, 2011), maka nilai H/L yang meningkat merupakan indikasi stres yang meningkat pula (Cetin et al, 2011). Peningkatan nilai H/L darah menunjukkan pula peningkatan pada hormon glukokortikoid dalam kondisi cekaman panas (Davis et al, 2008).…”

Respon Fisiologi Domba pada Sistem Pemeliharaan dan Pemberian Jenis Konsentrat Berbeda

“…Rasio N/L merupakan indikator adanya stres. Altan et al (2000) menyatakan bahwa stress menyebabkan rasio N/L meningkat hal ini disebabkan hormon yang meningkatkan stres disekresikan oleh kelenjar adrenal akan meningkatkan rasio N/L Gudev et al (2011). Penelitian ini menunjukkan domba dengan pemeliharaan semi intensif maupun intensif dengan pemberian konsentrat yang berbeda memiliki rasio N/L yang normal sesuai dengan pendapat Kannan et al (2000) bahwa nilai normal rasio N/L pada domba yaitu sebesar 1,5%.…”