Interactive effects of temperature and dietary supplementation of arginine or guanidinoacetic acid on nutritional and physiological responses in male broiler chickens

Abstract

1. The aim of this experiment was to study the interactive effect of rearing temperature and dietary supplementation of arginine (Arg) or guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) on performance, gut morphology and ascites indices in broiler chickens raised under the same condition in the first 2 weeks and then reared under normal (23-26°C) or subnormal (17°C) ambient temperatures for the next 3 weeks. 2. This experiment was conducted as a split plot with 900 Ross 308 male broiler chicks that were allocated to two houses (as main plots); each consisted of 5 treatments (as sub-plots) with 6 replicates of 15 birds. The 5 diets were (1) control, (2) control + 0.60 g/kg GAA, (3) control + 1.20 g/kg GAA, (4) control + 0.86 g/kg Arg and (5) control + 1.72 g/kg Arg. 3. Feed intake (0-35 d) of birds fed on a diet containing 1.2 g GAA/kg and reared under normal temperature was reduced compared to control fed birds. Birds fed on a diet containing 1.72 g/kg Arg and reared under subnormal temperature had higher weight gain compared to those fed on control or GAA-added diets in overall study period. 4. Supplementation of diets with Arg alleviated the adverse effect of cold stress as reflected by reduction in blood haematocrit (41% vs. 37%), and right ventricle to total ventricle ratio (0.28 vs. 0.25) at 35 d of age. Addition of Arg to the diet of birds reared under cold stress resulted in a higher jejunal villus surface area compared to those fed on control or GAA-added diets. 5. Findings of this study revealed that Arg or GAA supplementation of diets did not affect performance of birds under normal temperatures, but Arg supplementation of the diet significantly alleviated the adverse effect of cold stress on performance, gut development and ascites syndrome. In addition, GAA supplementation at 1.2 g/kg improved jejunal villus surface area in birds raised under subnormal temperature.

Effects of N-acetylcysteine on the energy status and antioxidant capacity in heart and liver of cold-stressed broilers

“…Then, temperature of one room (thermoneutral treatment) was gradually decreased by 2°C/week from d 15 until it reached 26°C±1°C by d 28 of age and remained constant thereafter. On the contrary, the temperature in the other room (cold stress treatment) was reduced to 10°C±1°C on d 15 of age and kept constant until the end of the experiment [ 2 , 7 ]. The experiment lasted for 42 days (6 weeks).…”

“…1.13 1.00 Threonine (%) 4) 0.88 0.75 Calcium (%) 3) 1.00 0.90 Total phosphorus (%) 4) 0.75 0.65 Avaiable phosphorus (%) 3) 0.54 0.45 1) The contents of crude protein in the ingredients. stress treatment) was reduced to 10°C±1°C on d 15 of age and kept constant until the end of the experiment [2,7]. The experiment lasted for 42 days (6 weeks).…”

“…It is estimated that 20 million poultry deaths and an economic loss of 100 million can be attributed to the winter conditions and low temperatures in China [1]. In a low temperature, the metabolic rate of fast-growing broilers rises for heat production to maintain normal body temperature, leading to excess nutrient oxidation and oxygen deficiency [2]. Consequently, cardiac output increases to supply more oxygen for metabolism, which results in pathological alterations such as classic hematological changes and heart hypertrophy [3].…”

“…To minimize the impairment caused by cold temperature, the techniques of nutritional manipulation are increasingly developed in broiler production, for example, dietary supplementation with vitamin C [7], copper-methionine [8], arginine and guanidinoacetic acid [2]. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a precursor of L-cysteine, which is utilized for the synthesis of reduced glutathione (GSH).…”

Guanidinoacetic acid supplementation improves feed conversion in broilers subjected to heat stress associated with muscle creatine loading and arginine sparing

“…(2019) showed a 13-point reduction in F:G at a dose of 1.2 g/kg of GAA in the finisher period under HS conditions. However, reports on GAA feeding under thermoneutral conditions gives F:G reductions in the finisher period by 3.6 ± 3.5 and 6.3 ± 4.6 points for 0.6 and 1.2 g/kg of GAA, respectively ( Michiels et al., 2012 ; Mousavi et al., 2013 ; Heger et al., 2014 ; EFSA, 2016 ; Kodambashi Emami et al., 2017 ; Cordova-Nobova et al., 2018b ; Majdeddin et al., 2018 , 2019 ), thus emphasizing the additional benefits when fed to heat-stressed broilers.…”