Performance, Egg Quality, and Yolk Antioxidant Capacity of the Laying Quail in Response to Dietary Choline Levels

Abstract

The current study determined the ideal dose of choline in the diet of laying quails based on egg development, egg quality, and antioxidant capacity. A total of 120 female quails (244.7 ± 10.38 g) were randomly assigned to 6 experimental groups with 5 replicates of 4 quails each. In the 10-week trial, treatment diets were formed by adding 6 choline chloride−60% concentrations providing 1500 (control), 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, and 4000 mg/kg of choline. The feed intake of quails was quadratically affected (p < 0.05) by the choline level of the diet, in other developmental parameters, and by egg quality among these treatments. The feed intake was reduced to 2500 and 3000 mg/kg levels of choline in the diet compared to the control group. Free radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) of the yolk increased linearly (p < 0.001) with dietary choline levels. In contrast, the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value decreased as dietary choline levels increased, except for 4000 mg/kg levels. Based on the findings of the current study, 1500 mg/kg of dietary choline is adequate to maintain performance parameters and egg quality in laying quails. However, to increase egg antioxidant capacity, in terms of the DPPH value, the dietary choline dose needs to be increased to 3500 mg/kg.

Does the addition of choline and/or betaine to diets reduce the methionine requirements of laying quails? Assessment of performance and egg antioxidant capacity

“…These findings are consistent with the results reported by Park and Ryu (2011) and Sadegheymojarad et al (2018) for betaine addition. However, these results disagreed with previous authors who suggested that the administration of choline ( Moghadam et al, 2021 ; Olgun et al, 2022 ) or betaine ( Ratriyanto et al, 2017 ; Rasul et al, 2019 ) has positive effects on performance and egg production. Many reasons could justify the disagreement between the different studies.…”

“…The nutritional requirements of animals have been modified due to changes and advances in dietary components and genetics. This situation leads to evaluating the requirements of certain ingredients and additives used in the diet ( Murawska et al, 2018 ; Olgun et al, 2022 ). In addition, some production tendencies (such as organic production) restrict the use of synthetic additives, being necessary to develop alternative feeding strategies ( Demattê Filho et al, 2015 ; Burley et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Methionine (DL), choline (60% of purity) and betaine (96% of purity) were provided by an international company (FoodChem, Pudong, China) and added to diets at the expense of corn. In the experiment, choline and betaine levels were determined as reported by Olgun et al (2022) , and Ratriyanto et al (2018) respectively. The basal diet was prepared according to the NRC (1994) recommendations to supply the requirements of layer quails, except for the methionine level.…”

“…Nutrition plays an influential role in avian species' health, growth, and the quality of their products ( Alagawany et al, 2021 ; Sarmiento-García et al, 2022 ). Adequate nutrition, especially amino acid intake, is crucial for optimal performance; the health and productivity of birds can be adversely affected by an excess or deficiency of nutrients ( Olgun et al, 2022 ). It is well documented that methionine is the first limiting amino acid in corn-soybean meal avian diets ( Burley et al, 2016 ) and its supplementation influences growth performance, oxidative stability of carcass or egg quality, and other qualities parameters ( Murawska et al, 2018 ; Park et al, 2018 ; Zhang et al, 2018 ).…”

“…As noted above, betaine derives from choline in the organism through oxidation in liver cell mitochondria, resulting in the production of methionine ( Kachungwa Lugata et al, 2022 ). In both cases, the addition of betaine or choline to the avian diet has been linked to improvements in productive performance ( Ratriyanto et al, 2017 ; Ahmed et al, 2018 ; Moghadam et al, 2021 ), egg production ( Ratriyanto et al, 2021 ), and oxidative activity of eggs and breast muscles ( Yonke and Cherian, 2019 ; Wen et al, 2021 ; Olgun et al, 2022 ; Rama et al, 2022 ).…”