Effect of Dietary Betaine Supplementation in Choline-Deficient Broiler Diets on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, Serum Biochemistry, and Economics
Abstract
A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of betaine as a functional nutrient in choline-deficient broiler diets. A total of 275 day-old commercial Cobb 400 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to nine dietary treatments comprising a control (100% choline requirement), two choline-deficient diets (75% and 50% of requirement), and their respective betaine-supplemented groups at 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%. Each treatment had six replicates of five birds each, maintained under uniform management for 42 days. Growth performance, carcass traits, serum biochemical parameters, immune responses, and cost economics were assessed.
Choline deficiency significantly (p<0.05) reduced body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and carcass yield. Betaine supplementation improved performance in a dose-dependent manner. Birds fed diets with 0.3% betaine achieved body weights and FCR comparable to the control group. Carcass yield and breast meat percentage were significantly higher, while abdominal fat percentage was reduced in betaine-supplemented birds. Serum protein, albumin, and globulin concentrations improved with betaine addition, whereas cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid decreased. Betaine enhanced antibody titers against Newcastle disease virus and increased the relative weights of lymphoid organs. Economic analysis revealed higher net profit per bird in betaine-supplemented groups, with the highest benefit at 0.3% inclusion.
It was concluded that betaine supplementation at 0.3% effectively spares up to 50% of the dietary choline requirement in broilers, improving growth, carcass yield, immunity, and profitability.
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Introduction
Broiler production efficiently converts feed resources into animal protein, with choline being a crucial nutrient. Deficiency in poultry diets can lead to growth retardation, fatty liver, poor feed efficiency, and increased mortality. Synthetic choline chloride is used in commercial feed formulation, but it raises feed costs and may cause storage instability due to hygroscopicity. Betaine, a sugar beet compound, is gaining interest in poultry nutrition due to its dual role as a methyl donor and osmolyte. As a methyl donor, it reduces the need for choline and methionine in the diet, while as an osmolyte, it stabilizes cellular structures, improving stress tolerance and dehydration tolerance.
Several researchers have reported the efficacy of betaine as a partial substitute for choline. Jahanian and Rahmani (2008) reported improved growth and humoral immunity with betaine supplementation in choline-deficient diets. Rama Rao et al. (2011) found that betaine improved carcass yield and breast meat deposition while reducing abdominal fat. However, results across studies have been inconsistent, possibly due to variations in betaine source, diet composition, and rearing conditions.
Conclusion
The effective range for broilers, according to dose-response work, is between 0.03% and 0.3%, depending on the age, diet, and stress level of the birds. The 0.3% inclusion used here corresponds with the upper effective range (Wang et al., 2025). Recent studies conducted in 2023–2025 further refine application recommendations. More recent studies have also shown that betaine may enhance metabolic and antioxidant advantages by working in conjunction with other dietary strategies such as organic minerals or carnitine (Saleh et al., 2023).
Dietary betaine supplementation at 0.3% effectively spares up to 50% of the dietary choline requirement in broilers without compromising growth, carcass yield, or immunity. Betaine enhances feed efficiency, reduces fat deposition, and improves profitability. Its inclusion in choline-deficient diets can be recommended as a cost-effective strategy for sustainable broiler production. While evidence strongly supports betaine's utility as a methyl-sparing and functional additive, variation among studies highlights the importance of considering basal diet formulation, genotype, age, and environment. Future research should integrate metabolomic and gene-expression data (BHMT, PEMT pathways) with large-scale field trials to establish regionspecific dose response curves and cost–benefit outcomes.
References
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