The effect of different levels of β-alanine on performance, egg quality, yolk cholesterol and blood parameters of laying hen

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mohammad Kazemifard
• Mansour Rezaei
• aliasghar kardel
• Essa Dirandeh

Department of Animal Science, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran

Abstract

Keywords

• Egg quality traits
• Performance
• Blood parameters
• Laying hen
• β-Alanine
• Yolk cholesterol

Main Subjects

• Animal Nutrition and poultry

Extended Abstract

Introduction

In the poultry industry, the efficiency of feed consumption is very important to achieve this result, the use of synthetic amino acids, such as amino acid methionine, lysine, and arginine in poultry nutrition can play an effective role in animal performance. β-alanine is a non-essential amino acid that plays an important role in the synthesis of carnosine. Carnosine is made from two amino acids called β-alanine and L-histidine. Increasing the level of β-alanine caused a decrease in daily feed consumption in all ages of broiler. Adding carnosine to mice had no significant effect on serum glucose, while it caused a beneficial change in serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL cholesterol levels. This reduction may be due to inhibiting the synthesis of apolipoprotein A1 and reducing the size of HDL cholesterol particles. by carnosine. Investigating the effects of supplementation with different levels of β-alanine on laying hen performance, egg quality characteristics, and blood parameters is crucial due to its significant role in production processes.

Materials and Methods

In this experiment, with the aim of investigating the effect of adding β-alanine as a supplement in the diet of laying hens of the commercial of "Hy-Line W36" strain and effect on the qualitative and performance of eggs in a completely randomized design with a total number of 180 pieces of laying hens in five treatments and six replications and six laying hens in each replication were performed in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments included levels of 0, 400, 800, 1200 and 1600 mg of β-alanine per kg of feed. Egg mass was also obtained by multiplying the percentage of daily egg production by the average weight of eggs produced on the same day. Qualitative traits, egg shell and specific weight were measured. Yolk cholesterol measurement and blood parameters were sampled every two weeks and measured by spectrophotometer. Experimental data were statistically analyzed using statistical software SAS 9.1 (2002). Significant differences between treatments were compared with Duncan's multiple range test at a significance level (P<0.05).

Results and discussion

In this experiment, egg production at the age of 84-86 weeks and feed intake were significant in all the weeks of the experiment. So that adding the amount of β-alanine to the diet from 400 to 1600 mg increased the feed consumption compared to the control treatment, the increase in feed consumption may be due to the presence of β-alanine in the role of a neurotransmitter and also the regulation of hormones related to growth performance. The data analysis showed that the addition of β-alanine in the diet of laying hens had a significant effect on the weight of the shell per unit of surface area in the week of 84-86 and the whole period. The release of calcium from the cell's sarcoplasmic reticulum and the improvement of the egg shell are both caused by carnosine, which also plays a role in the Ca2+/H+ release exchange. The addition of β-alanine in the age periods of 80-82 and 82-84 in the diet in amounts of 800 and 1600 mg compared to the control treatment caused an increase in the cholesterol concentration of egg yolk, which may be due to the presence of β-alanine and activity HMG-COA reductase.

Conclusion

      In general, the results of this experiment showed that the addition of β-alanine up to the level of 1600 mg per kilogram of the diet caused an increase in feed intake in the whole period, but it did not significantly affect egg production, egg mass, or the feed conversion ratio in the whole period. The addition of 800 mg of β-alanine per kg of feed decreased total yolk cholesterol compared to other treatments at the age of 84–86 weeks. Since the reduction of cholesterol was caused by the addition of β-alanine in the diet of laying hens, it is believed that the addition of 800 mg of β-alanine per kilogram of feed will improve the total cholesterol status of the egg yolk.