University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2013 Effect of choline or betaine supplementation on broilers exposed to different temperature treatments Joseph D. Summers University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Poultry or Avian Science Commons Recommended Citation Summers, Joseph D., "Effect of choline or betaine supplementation on broilers exposed to different temperature treatments. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2013. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/2465 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Joseph D. Summers entitled "Effect of choline or betaine supplementation on broilers exposed to different temperature treatments." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Animal Science. Michael O. Smith, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Brynn Voy, John Waller Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Effect of choline or betaine supplementation on broilers exposed to different temperature treatments A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Joseph D. Summers August 2013 Copyright © 2013 by Joseph Summers All rights reserved ii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all my friends who have enriched my life in so many ways. Palmer, Charles, and Dominique you have taught me to never take life for granted. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Michael O. Smith, and the University of Tennessee Animal Science Department for taking me on as a graduate student. It is through their guidance and expectations that I have not only gained an immense amount of knowledge but also made tremendous personal growth. There is no doubt that I am not the same person I was when I started the program, and for that, I owe them both a great debt of gratitude. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Brynn Voy and Dr. John Waller, for their input and support during my graduate education. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dr. Arnold Saxton, for his instruction as well as trouble shooting, both in class and during my study. Without his input, my statistical analysis would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the technical staff, in particular Eddie Jarboe, Linda Miller, and all of the JARTU staff, for the hard work and assistance both with lab work and animal care. The research reported here was made possible by the financial support of Balchem Corporation. I thank Dr. Michael de Veth for his assistance during the design phase of the study as well as for his many helpful suggestions with the data analysis. I would also like to thank all of the graduate students for their support, both with my study and in life. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation for my research partner, Rodney Ray. He worked with me on every aspect of the study and was instrumental in making the study happen. Other graduate students that assisted during the project were Ben Ernest, Bo Ji, Christa Kurman, Sierra Lockwood, and Lydia Seibert as well as vet student Karianne Chung. Not only have they assisted in my education; they have been my friends. iv Finally, I would be remiss to not show gratitude to my family. My parents Jennifer and Gary as well as Dick and Pat have always been supportive of my education and development. I know that without their support and guidance I would not be who or where I am today. To all the people who have helped, guided, supported, and coached me: thank you. v Abstract In this study, we looked at the effects of supplemental choline or betaine on broiler performance under different temperature conditions. In total there were eighty pens containing ten birds each for a total of 800 Cobb MX™ X Cobb 500™ (Cobb-Vantress, Incorporated, Siloam Springs, AR, USA). Each pen was randomly assigned to one of five dietary treatments in this study: Treatment 1, basal diet, Treatment 2, basal diet plus 500 methyl equivalents added choline, Treatment 3, basal diet plus 1000 methyl equivalents added choline, Treatment 4, basal diet plus 500 methyl equivalents added betaine, and Treatment 5 basal diet plus 1000 methyl equivalents added betaine. The pens were divided equally into two rooms. One room was assigned a treatment classified as thermoneutral (TN) while the second room was designated as high temperature (HT). Dietary treatments did not significantly impact performance (p>0.05), but temperature treatments did have a negative effect on feed intake and feed to gain conversion during days 21 through 42 (p < 0.05). The lack of effect found during this study may have been due to variance in the anticipated feed composition and the actual feed composition. The feed fed during this study contained more methionine, an amino acid known to minimize supplemental choline effects, than what was anticipated. This study showed that high temperatures have a negative impact on performance, and since our dietary treatments were high in methionine, it is still not known whether choline or betaine supplementation, above recommended amounts, to a broiler ration is beneficial or not. vi Table of Contents Chapter One: Literature Review…...……………………….………………………1 Introduction………………………………………………………..………………………………1 Broiler Production………………………………………………...……………………………….4 Heat Stress……………………………………………………….………………………..……....5 Footpad Dermatitis and Litter Quality………………………….……………………….………..9 Choline……………………………………………………….…………………………………..12 Betaine…………………………………………………………………………………………...15 Betaine, Choline, Methionine and Their Interactions………..…......……………………………18 Conclusion…………………………………………….…………………………………………23 Chapter 2: Materials and Methods………….….………………………………….24 Birds and Housing……...………………………………………………...………………………24 Dietary Treatments………………………………………………………...……………………..25 Growth and Carcass Traits……………………………………………………………………….28 Litter Wetness and Foot Scores………………………………………………...........…………..31 Intestinal Integrity……………………………………………………………….......…………...31 Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis…………………………………………………...33 Chapter Three: Results…………………………………………………...………34 Chapter Four: Discussion…………………………………………………...…….53 Literature Cited………………………………………………………………...….62 Vita………………………………………………………………………………..73 vii List of Tables Table 1. Starter basal diet formulation……………………………………………...………..…27 Table 2. Grower basal diet formulation........................................................................................29 Table 3. Finisher basal diet formulation………………………………………………………...30 Table 4. Least squares means for mortality rate for days 1-21, days 21-42, and days 1-42…….51 Table 5. The actual amounts of added choline and betaine in the dietary treatments, and the percent that these values vary from what was expected…………………………………………54 Table 6. Actual and recommended methionine levels…………………………………………..56 viii List of Figures Figure 1. The interaction pathway for betaine, choline, and methionine……………………….19 Figure 2. The daily temperature cycle for the thermoneutral and high temperature rooms….…26 Figure 3. The scoring system for foot pad dermatitis…………………………………………...32 Figure 4. Feed intake for days 1-21 across dietary treatments……..…………………………...35 Figure 5. Feed intake for days 21-42 across dietary treatments...…...………………………….36 Figure 6. Feed consumption for high temperature and thermoneutral groups across weeks four, five, and six………...………………………………………………………………………37 Figure 7. Body weight gain for day 1-21 amongst dietary treatments..……...………………….38 Figure 8. Body weight gain for days 21-42 amongst dietary treatments.…....………………….39 Figure 9. Body weight gain for high temperature and thermoneutral groups across weeks four, five, and six…………….………………………………………………...………………...40 Figure 10. Feed conversion for day 1-21 amongst dietary treatments…...………..…………….41 Figure 11. Feed conversion for day 21-42 amongst dietary treatments…………………….…...42 Figure 12. Feed conversion for day 1-21 amongst high temperature and thermoneutral groups…………………………………………………………………………………………….43 Figure 13. Feed conversion for high temperature and thermoneutral groups across weeks four, five, and six………………………………………………………………………………………44 ix Figure 14. Litter moisture on day 41 amongst dietary treatments…………………….………...45 Figure 15. Litter moisture on day 42 amongst high temperature and thermoneutral groups…...47 Figure 16. Foot scores amongst dietary treatments……………………….…………………….48 Figure 17. Foot scores amongst high temperature and thermoneutral groups…….…………….49 Figure 18. Intestinal tensile strength amongst dietary treatments……………….………………50 Figure 19. Percent mortality for day 21-42 amongst high temperature and thermoneutral groups…………………………………………………………………………………………….52 x CHAPTER ONE Literature Review Introduction The poultry industry produces two main products: