Abstract

Majed Rafeeq, Talat Naseer Pasha, Muhammad Masood Tariq, Masroor Ahmad Bajwa

The experiment was designed and conducted to evaluate the availability of betaine (betaine anhydrous 97%) as methionine sparing for broilers. Two hundred and fifty day-old chicks were randomly divided into five treatment groups which were divided into five replicates of ten chicks each. Primarily, a single starter ration deficient in methionine was formulated using NRC standards. The five treatment groups were; (A) Positive control supplemented with methionine, (B) Low Methionine (LM), (C) LM supplemented with choline at 0.17%, (D) LM supplemented with Betaine (0.14%) and (E) LM with Betaine at 0.07% in the starter ration. Choline was added at 700 mg/kg to Treatments A and B. Weight gain (WG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) data was collected on a weekly basis from 0 to 28 days. Statistical analyses of data revealed significant differences among the treatment groups in FI, WG and FCR (P< 0.05). Supplementation of choline and betaine to Treatment Groups B, C, D and E respectively did not show results as per Treatment A supplemented with methionine. However, betaine supplementation showed better WG and FCR to Treatments B and C (P0.05).