Physio-biochemical responses and growth performance of buffalo heifers to betaine supplementation during hot humid season under field conditions

Abstract

In order to find out the effect of betaine supplementation on physiological (rectal temperature, skin temperature, respiration rate and pulse rate) responses, morphological (body length, heart girth and height at withers) parameters, stress markers (cortisol and NEFA levels), growth hormone, dry matter intake (DMI) and body weight of buffalo heifers during hot humid season under field conditions, 14 buffalo heifers were selected and equally divided into 2 groups, i.e. control and treatment (supplemented betaine @ 25 g/animal/day over the farmers practice). Blood samples were collected at fortnightly interval from both the groups and analyzed for stress markers. THI was calculated for measuring the stress levels on buffalo heifers, which remained 􀀡76 indicating severe stress. Physiological responses were significantly lower in treatment group than control. Morphological parameters, body weight and DMI were higher in treatment than control. Plasma cortisol and NEFA levels were significantly lower, whereas plasma growth hormone was significantly higher in treatment group compared to control. ADG was significantly higher in treatment group compared to control. Positive correlation was observed between THI and stress markers, physiological responses and negatively correlated with ADG, DMI and growth hormone. It can be concluded that betaine acted as a potent growth promoter by lowering the levels of stress markers and enhancing the ADG and DMI of buffalo heifers.

The relation of both body dimentional and body condition score with milk yield in lactating Egyptian buffaloes

“…These results also supported the present results of body condition mobilization and deposition with increase and decrease in milk production. Our results agree with these of Deshpande et al (2020) who reported that there were insignificant change in body measurements that might be due to post-natal allometric growth during pre-pubertal period and different growth rate in different body parts. (3) show the BCS ultrasonographic fat thickness during the lactation season among groups.…”

Assessment of Betaine as a Feed Additive to Improve the Metabolic Status and Reproductive Performance of Aberdeen Angus Cows in Arid Subtropical Regions

“…Betaine, tri-methylglycine is a recent compound found to ameliorate HS in cows (Kassab et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2021, andKondiba et al, 2023), buffalo (Shankhpal et al, 2019;Deshpande et al, 2020;Shakkarpude et al, 2022, andHussain et al, 2023), goat (Ghoneem and El-Tanany., 2023), sheep (Tsiplakou1 et al,2017, and DiGiacomo et al, 2023, and in poultry (Al Sulaiman et al, 2023, andAl-Garadi et al, 2023).BET has several activities that may reduce the impact of HS on cattle and improve its performance. Initially, BET is a modified amino acid composed of glycine with three methyl groups that acts as a methyl donor in many metabolic pathways (NCBI, 2021).…”