Efficacy of guanidinoacetic acid at different dietary crude protein levels on growth performance, stress indicators, antioxidant status, and intestinal morphology in broiler chickens subjected to cyclic heat stress
Introduction
The adverse effects of heat stress (HS) on survival rate, growth performance, and meat quality are well described in broiler chickens and continue to be economically harmful to many farms (Akhavan-Salamat and Ghasemi, 2016; Habibian et al., 2016). In broiler chickens, HS also could disturb endocrine system (Sohail et al., 2010; Zaglool et al., 2019), impair morphology of the intestinal mucosa (Yi et al., 2016; Awad et al., 2018), and induce oxidative damage in various tissues (Akbarian et al., 2016; Cheng et al., 2018). Several approaches have been proposed for attenuating the detrimental effects of HS in poultry, including environmental management, dietary manipulation, as well as the inclusion of appropriate additives in the diet, although the efficiency of most of the approaches as reported in the literature has been variable or inconsistent.
Dietary crude protein (CP) has received great attention in connection with HS because its catabolism contributes to the more metabolic heat production when compared to that of fats and carbohydrates in the body (Syafwan et al., 2011). It is generally believed that feeding high dietary CP to broiler chickens causes a low protein efficiency and high heat production, while limiting CP consumption and adding synthetic amino acids can improve the efficiency of dietary protein utilization of broiler chickens (Attia and Hassan, 2017; Awad et al., 2018). Thus, low-CP, amino acid-fortified diets may be used as part of the overall strategy for the nutritional management of heat stressed-broilers. Previous researches on low-CP diets in heat stressed-broilers showed that reducing dietary CP with the use of crystalline amino acids could support growth performance (Awad et al., 2014; Ghasemi et al., 2014), and improve the survivability (Zulkifli et al., 2018). However, to better understand the impact of low CP nutrition on the physiological and biochemical indices in broiler chickens reared under heat stress conditions, more fundamental research in this area is needed.
Creatine is naturally present in vertebrate cells and plays a very important role in the energy delivery process in several tissues, particularly in the replacement of adenosine triphosphate reserves in muscle cells. Creatine is phosphorylated to phosphocreatine in muscle that is directly involved for the maintenance of low levels of adenosine diphosphate at the sites of energy utilization in the myofibrils and in the transport of high-energy phosphate from mitochondria (Chen et al., 2011; Ostojic, 2016). However, under HS condition, this metabolic pathway seems to be changed. When broiler chickens are exposed to high ambient temperatures, respiratory rate and rectal temperature increase, resulting in the higher utilization of muscle energy reserves, mostly in the form of glycogen (Gonzalez-Esquerra and Leeson, 2006; Kumari and Nath, 2018). In addition, under HS condition, arginine may be mainly utilized for the synthesis of nitric oxide, which stimulates vasodilation and reduces vascular resistance (Khajali et al., 2011). Nitric oxide, as an important signaling molecule, also plays the main role in glucose transport into the skeletal muscle tissues during muscular contraction (Jobgen et al., 2006). Therefore, arginine requirements may need to be increased for the nitric oxide synthesis in heat-stressed broilers.
Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is the important metabolic intermediary product and biological precursor of creatine, which is synthesized from the glycine and arginine in the avian kidney and liver (Dilger et al., 2013). Guanidinoacetic acid is reported to be a more suitable feed additive compared with creatine and arginine because it is less expensive than either of these compounds and is more chemically stable than creatine (Baker, 2009). Furthermore, GAA could spare dietary arginine, in the same manner as dietary creatine, which in turn could be used for other metabolic pathways (Baker, 2009; Dilger et al., 2013). Since the administration of GAA may improve cellular bioenergetics by the stimulation of creatine biosynthesis (Ostojic, 2015), it can be considered that dietary GAA might have different effects on growth performance and metabolism of broilers depending on the energy and protein levels of the diet.
As described, due to (1) influence of dietary CP content on HS response, (2) the role of creatine metabolism in muscle energy reserve, and (3) importance to alleviate heat-induced damage in performance and metabolism of broiler chickens, the interaction between GAA and CP level in the diet when broilers are exposed to a high environmental temperature merits investigation. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the supplementation of GAA on growth performance, leukocyte profile, physiological stress indicators, antioxidant status, and gut morphology of heat stressed-broilers fed diets containing two dietary CP levels (100 or 90% of the Ross 308 strain recommendation).
Section snippets
Experimental design, diets and environmental conditions
All experimental procedures involving birds were complied with the “Guidelines for the Care and Use of Animals in Research”’ and approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Arak University (contract number 93–9979). A total of 504 one-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) with similar initial body weight were purchased from a commercial hatchery and used in this study. The experiment was a 2 × 3 plus 1 factorial arrangement of the treatments with two levels of dietary CP [normal (100% of the
Growth performance
The effect of dietary CP and supplemental GAA on growth performance in broiler chickens reared under HS condition is shown in Tables 3 to 5. Up to 24 d, BW and ADG were not affected by experimental treatments. In contrast, the final BW and the ADG in the finisher and entire experimental periods of the PC group were higher (P < 0.05) than those of all HS groups (Table 3). Based on the factorial analysis, the interactions among dietary CP and GAA level were observed for final BW (P = 0.026) and
Discussion
In agreement with several reports demonstrating the adverse effects of HS on growth performance (Quinteiro-Filho et al., 2010; Sohail et al., 2013; Akhavan-Salamat and Ghasemi, 2016; Habibian et al., 2016), the results of the current study showed a reduction in ADG and ADFI when broiler chickens exposed to HS. During the entire trial, FCR of PC treatment was comparable with all HS groups except non-supplemented low-CP group showing a significant increase from the PC treatment. This implied that
Conclusion
In conclusion, feeding low-CP diets (90% of the Ross 308 recommendations for CP) fortified with lysine, methionine, threonine, and valine can support growth performance equivalent to that of broilers fed with a standard protein diet under cyclic HS conditions. In addition, a partial beneficial effect of low-CP diet was observed on the mortality rate of broilers grown in high temperature conditions. The results also showed that dietary supplementation of GAA at the rate of 0.06% could be an
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance for this research that was provided by Arak University in Arak, Iran (Grant Number. 97/44) and the Evonik Degussa in Tehran, Iran.
References (63)
- et al.
Effects of dietary Bacillus subtilis on heat-stressed broilers performance, intestinal morphology and microflora composition
Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.
(2014) - et al.
Gastrointestinal functionality in animal nutrition and health: new opportunities for sustain able animal production
Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.
(2017) - et al.
Comparison of the novel compounds creatine and pyruvate on lipid and protein metabolism in broiler chickens
Animal.
(2011) - et al.
Dietary mannan oligosaccharide improves growth performance, muscle oxidative status, and meat quality in broilers under cyclic heat stress
J. Therm. Biol.
(2018) - et al.
Effect of guanidinoacetic acid supplementation on live performance, meat quality, pectoral myopathies and blood parameters of male broilers fed corn-based diets with or without poultry by-products
Poult. Sci.
(2018) - et al.
Efficacy of guanidinoacetic acid on growth and muscle energy metabolism in broiler chicks receiving arginine-deficient diets
Poult. Sci.
(2018) - et al.
Dietary guanidino acetic acid is an efficacious replacement for arginine for young chicks
Poult. Sci.
(2013) Protein glutathionylation in health and disease
Biochim. Biophys. Acta
(2013)- et al.
Regulatory role for the arginine–nitric oxide pathway in metabolism of energy substrates
J. Nutr. Biochem.
(2006) - et al.
Effects of supplementation of canola meal-based diets with arginine on performance, plasma nitric oxide, and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens grown at high altitude
Poult. Sci.
(2011)
Productive performance and histological features of intestinal mucosa of broiler chickens fed different dietary protein levels
Poult. Sci.
Supplementation of guanidinoacetic acid to broiler diets: effects on performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and energy metabolism
Poult. Sci.
Effects of guanidinoacetic acid supplementationto broiler diets with varying energy contents
J. Appl. Poult. Res.
Heat stress impairs performance parameters, induces intestinal injury, and decreases macrophage activity in broiler chickens
Poult. Sci.
Lycopene activates antioxidant enzymes and nuclear transcription factor systems in heat-stressed broilers
Poult. Sci.
Effect of supplementation of mannan oligosaccharide and probiotic on growth performance, relative weights of viscera, and population of selected intestinal bacteria in cyclic heat-stressed broilers
J. Appl. Poult. Res.
Alleviation of cyclic heat stress in broilers by dietary supplementation of mannan-oligosaccharide and Lactobacillus-based probiotic: dynamics of cortisol, thyroid hormones, cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and humoral immunity
Poult. Sci.
Effects of dietary supplementation of methionine and its hydroxy analog DL-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutanoic acid on growth performance, plasm hormone levels, and the redox status of broiler chickens expose to high temperatures
Poult. Sci.
N-acetylcysteine improves the growth performance and intestinal function in the heat-stressed broilers
Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.
L-arginine upregulates the gene expression of target of rapamycin signaling pathway and stimulates protein synthesis in chicken intestinal epithelial cells
Poult. Sci.
Impact of strain and duration of thermal stress on carcass yield, metabolic hormones, immunological indices and the expression of HSP90 and Myogenin genes in broilers
Res. Vet. Sci.
Effects of low-protein diets on acute phase proteins and heat shock protein 70 responses, and growth performance in broiler chickens under heat stress condition
Poult. Sci.
Effect of Guanidinoacetic acid supplementation on growth performance and gut morphology in broiler chickens
Poult. Sci. J.
Association between heat stress and oxidative stress in poultry; mitochondrial dysfunction and dietary interventions with phytochemicals
J. Anim. Sci. Technol.
Alleviation of chronic heat stress in broilers by dietary supplementation of betaine and turmeric rhizome powder: dynamics of performance, leukocyte profile, humoral immunity, and antioxidant status
Trop. Anim. Health Prod.
Energy utilisation of broiler chickens in response to guanidinoacetic acid supplementation in diets with various energy contents
Br. J. Nutr.
Evonik Industries, Evonik Degussa GmbH, Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany
Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International
Broiler tolerance to heat stress at various dietary protein/energy levels
Eur. Poult. Sci.
Ross 308 Broiler Nutrition Specifications
Amino acids fortification of low-protein diet for broilers under tropical climate: ideal essential amino acids profile
Ital. J. Anim. Sci.
Cited by (47)
Effects of guanidinoacetic acid and betaine on growth performance, energy and nitrogen metabolism, and rumen microbial protein synthesis in lambs
2022, Animal Feed Science and TechnologyCitation Excerpt :In addition, GAA has been reported as a supplement in broilers, pigs, and cattle. The addition of GAA improves antioxidant capacity and has a significant positive effect on growth performance under cyclic heat stress in broilers (Amiri et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2021). Supplementation with GAA increases average daily gain, enhances creatine metabolism (Li et al., 2018), and regulates energy metabolism efficiency by increasing mRNA expression of the creatine transporters in the muscle and liver to improve meat quality in finishing pigs (Liu et al., 2015).