Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T12:56:51.751Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of equi-molar dietary betaine and choline addition on performance, carcass quality and physiological parameters of pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

H Siljander-Rasi ,
S Peuranen ,
K Tiihonen ,
E Virtanen ,
H Kettunen ,
T Alaviuhkola  and
P.H Simmins
H Siljander-Rasi*
Affiliation:
MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Swine Research Station, Tervamäentie 179, FIN-05840 Hyvinkää, Finland
S Peuranen
Affiliation:
Danisco Cultor Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Sokeritehtaantie 20, FIN-02460 Kantvik, Finland
K Tiihonen
Affiliation:
Danisco Cultor Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Sokeritehtaantie 20, FIN-02460 Kantvik, Finland
E Virtanen
Affiliation:
Danisco Cultor Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Sokeritehtaantie 20, FIN-02460 Kantvik, Finland
H Kettunen
Affiliation:
Danisco Cultor Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Sokeritehtaantie 20, FIN-02460 Kantvik, Finland
T Alaviuhkola
Affiliation:
MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Swine Research Station, Tervamäentie 179, FIN-05840 Hyvinkää, Finland
P.H Simmins
Affiliation:
Danisco Animal Nutrition, PO Box 777, Marlborough SN9 1XN, UK
*
†Email: hilkka.siljander-rasi@mtt.fi
Get access

Abstract

Betaine and its precursor choline were compared in their efficiency in affecting the performance, carcass traits, and liver betaine concentration of growing-finishing pigs. Individually penned Finnish Landrace and Yorkshire pigs and their crosses (30 kg; no. = 70) were offered the basal diet with no added betaine or choline, or the basal diet supplemented with low to moderate doses (250, 500 or 1000 mg/kg) of betaine (Betafin® S1), or with a similar molar amount of choline (578, 1155 or 2310 mg/kg of choline chloride). The maize-soya-bean-meal basal diet was formulated to contain 12·3 MJ/kg digestible energy, 155 g/kg crude protein and 7·4, 4·4 and 4·3 g/kg digestible lysine, threonine and methionine + cystine, respectively. Oat hull meal (100 g/kg) was added to reduce the dietary energy concentration. The pigs were on a restricted feeding level, 1·5 to 3·0 kg food per day (proportionately 0·8 of ad libitum intake) for 75 days. Daily weight gain and food-to-gain ratio improved linearly (P < 0·01) with increasing dietary betaine. Carcass weight increased linearly (P < 0·01) but slaughter loss proportion, backfat and sidefat thicknesses and lean proportions in ham and carcass were unaffected by dietary betaine level. Liver betaine level increased linearly (by up to a proportion of 0·62 in comparison with the control) with dietary betaine addition (F < 0·05) and betaine tended to improve linearly the tensile strength of the proximal ileum (P = 0·07). The presence of choline had no effect on any of these parameters. These results indicate that low to moderate doses of dietary betaine improved the growth and the efficiency of food utilization of growing-finishing pigs. Pigs on betaine diets had heavier carcasses without a relative increase in carcass fat. Choline had no such effects in pigs offered the restricted amount of diet. Liver betaine concentration increased with level of betaine in the diet whereas the betaine precursor choline did not affect hepatic betaine.

Keywords

betainecholineliverpigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 55 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Borum, P.R. 1983. Carnitine. Annual Review of Nutrition 3: 233–259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casarin, A., Forad, M. and Zabaras-Krick, B. 1997. Interrelationships between betaine (Betafin-BCR) and level of feed intake on the performance parameters and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 75: (suppl. 1) 75 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Cromwell, M.D., Lindemann, J.R., Randolph, H.J., Moneque, K.M. and Parker, G.R. 1999. Efficacy of betaine as a carcass modifier in finishing pigs fed normal and reduced energy diets. Journal of Animal Science 77: (suppl. 1) 179 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Fernández-Fígares, I., Wray-Cahen, D., Steele, N.C., Campbell, R.G., Hall, D.D., Virtanen, E. and Caperna, T.J. 2002. Effect of dietary betaine on nutrient utilization and partitioning in the young growing feed-restricted pig. Journal of Animal Science 80: 421–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkelstein, J.D. 1998. The metabolism of homocysteine: pathways and regulation. European Journal of Pediatrics 157: (suppl. 2) S40–S44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Perez, A. and Burg, M.B. 1991. Renal medullary organic osmolytes. Physiological Reviews 71: 1081–1115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, D.D., Orr, D.E., Wilson, M.E. Jr., Moser, R.L. and Whittington, K.A. 1997. Effect of betaine in finishing pig diets. Journal of Animal Science 75: (suppl. 1) 75 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Häussinger, D. 1996. The role of cellular hydration in the regulation of cell function. Biochemical Journal 313: 697–710.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haydon, K.D., Campbell, R.G. and Prince, T.J. 1995. Effect of dietary betaine additions and amino: calorie ratio on performance and carcass traits of finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 73: (suppl. 1) 83 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Kettunen, H. 2001. Betaine in the nutrition of broiler chicks – absorption, methyl group metabolism, and intestinal osmoregulation. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
Kettunen, H., Peuranen, S. and Tiihonen, K. 2001a. Betaine aids in the osmoregulation of duodenal epithelium of broiler chicks, and affects the movement of water across the small intestinal epithelium in vitro . Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 129: 595–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kettunen, H., Peuranen, S., Tiihonen, K. and Saarinen, M. 2001b. Intestinal uptake of betaine in vitro, and the distribution of methyl groups from betaine, choline, and methionine in the body of broiler chicks. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 128: 269–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidd, M.T., Ferket, P.R. and Garlich, J.D. 1997. Nutritional and osmoregulatory functions of betaine. World's Poultry Science Journal 53: 126–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, B.W., Schinckel, A.P., Adeola, O. and Cera, K. 2002. Impact of betaine on pig finishing performance and carcass composition. Journal of Animal Science 80: 475–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKeever, M.P., Weir, D.G., Molloy, A. and Scott, J.M. 1991. Betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase: organ distribution in man, pig, and rat and subcellular distribution in the rat. Clinical Science 81: 551–556.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthews, J.O., Southern, L.L., Higbie, A.D., Persica, M.A. and Bidner, T.D. 2001. Effects of betaine on growth, carcass characteristics, pork quality, and plasma metabolites of finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 79: 722–728.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthews, J.O., Southern, L.L., Pontif, J.E., Higbie, A.D. and Bidner, T.D. 1998. Interactive effects of betaine, crude protein, and net energy in finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 76: 2444–2455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Research Council. 1980. Effect of supplemental choline on performance of starting, growing and finishing pigs: a cooperative regional study. Journal of Animal Science 50: 99–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Research Council. 1998. Nutrient requirements of swine, 10th revised edition. National Academy Press, Washington.Google Scholar
Odle, J., Heo, K.N. and Lin, X. 2000. The role of carnitine and betaine in lean growth modulation of swine. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science 13: (special issue) 386–395.Google Scholar
Øverland, M., Rørvik, K.-A. and Skrede, A. 1999. Effect of trimethylamine oxide and betaine in swine diets on growth performance, carcass characteristics, nutrient digestibility, and sensory quality of pork. Journal of Animal Science 77: 2143–2153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Remus, J. and Quarles, C.L. 2000. The effects of betaine on lesion scores and tensile strength of coccidia-challenged broilers. International Poultry Science Forum abstracts, Jan 17-18, 2000. Concurrent meeting of The Southern Poultry Science Society and The Southern Conference on Avian Diseases, Atlanta, Georgia, p. 34.Google Scholar
Robertson, J.B. and Van Soest, P.J. 1981. The detergent system of analysis and its application to human foods. In The analysis of dietary fibre in foods (ed. James, W.D.T. and Theander, O.), pp. 123–158. Marcell Dekker, New York.Google Scholar
Saarinen, M.T., Kettunen, H., Pulliainen, K., Peuranen, S., Tiihonen, K. and Remus, J. 2001. A novel method to analyse betaine in chicken liver – the effect of dietary betaine and choline supplementation on the hepatic betaine concentration in broiler chicks. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 49: 559–563.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schrama, J.W., Simmins, P.H. and Gerrits, W.J.J. 2001. Effect of dietary betaine supplementation on energy partitioning in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 79: (suppl. 1) 184 (abstr. )Google Scholar
Sheard, N.F. and Zeisel, S.H. 1986. An in vitro study of choline uptake by intestine from neonatal and adult rats. Pediatric Research 20: 768–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. 1999. Choline, betaine and methionine interactions in chickens, pigs and fish (including crustaceans). World's Poultry Science Journal 55: 353–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith II, J.W., Nelssen, R.D., Goodband, M.D., Tokach, B.T., Richert, K.Q., Owen, J.R., Bergstrom, J.R. and Blum, S.A. 1995. The effects of supplementing growing-finishing swine diets with betaine and (or) choline on growth and carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science 73: (suppl. 1) 83 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G. 1980. Statistical methods, eighth edition. Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1989. SAS/STAT® user's guide, version 6, fourth edition, volume 2. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Stekol, J.A., Hsu, P.T., Weiss, S. and Smith, P. 1953. Labile methyl group and its synthesis de novo in relation to growth in chicks. Journal of Biological Chemistry 203: 763–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swain, B.K. and Johri, T.S. 2000. Effect of supplemental methionine, choline and their combinations on the performance and immune response of broilers. British Poultry Science 41: 83–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomke, S., Madsen, A., Mortensen, H. P., Sundstøl, F., Vangen, O., Alaviuhkola, T. and Andersson, K. 1995. Dietary energy and protein for growing pigs. 1. Performance and carcass composition. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science 45: 45–53.Google Scholar
Tröbs, M., Renner, T. and Scherer, G. 1998. An improved high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of homocysteine in human plasma. Chromatographia 48: 506–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuori, M., Kaustell, K., Valaja, J., Aimonen, E., Saarisalo, E. and Huhtanen, P. 1995. [Feed tables and feeding recommendations. ] Yliopistopaino, Helsinki.Google Scholar
Webel, D.M., McKeith, F.K. and Easter, R.A. 1995. The effects of betaine supplementation on growth performance and carcass characteristics in finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 73: (suppl. 1) 82 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Yancey, P.H., Clark, M.E., Hand, S.C., Bowlus, R.D. and Somero, G.N. 1982. Living with water stress: evolution of osmolyte systems. Science 217: 1214–1222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed