Betaine Supplementation in Swine as a Performance Booster
Alok Mishra, Preeti Bisht & Alok K.Wankar
Senior Research Fellow, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, 263153-Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.
PhD Scholar, Department of Veterinary Pharmacology & Toxicology, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, 263153-Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.
fDepartment of Veterinary Physiology, College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, 431402-Parbhani, Maharashtra, India. Email ID: wankaralok@gmail.com
Summary:
The nutritional and performance boosting functions of betaine supplementation in pig ration as a micro feed additive are discussed here. Betaine is a trimethyl derivative of the amino acid glycine and is produced by oxidation of choline or only through feed. Over the past decades, numerous studies have investigated and published the beneficial effects of betaine on performance in different animal species. Pork is widely consumed over the world, betaine can be a good, cheap, alternative feed supplement for accomplishing the nutritional requirements in swine and poultry.
Introduction:
Agriculture and animal husbandry enterprise which currently employs more than 1.3 billion people, contribute to 40 % of the world’s gross domestic product and the demand for animal products is expected to double by 2050 with the growing human population. The demand for Pork is increasing steeply over the years. Currently, there are total 677.7 million pigs all over the world. Being simple stomached species, there is competition with humans for available natural food resources and the search for alternative, quality substitute nutrients and proteins that can improves the efficiency of nutrient utilization and profitability is continuously going on.
The dietary sources of betaine include grains, some vegetables, fruits, meats, some marine organisms and some dairy products etc. All the available forms of betaine are not equally potent and food grade anhydrous betaine and betaine monophosphate are more readily soluble and available as compared to betaine hydrochloride. Betaine (trimethyl glycine) is a quaternary stable, nontoxic, ammonium compound having osmo-protective and methyl donor characteristics.
Osmoprotective agent: Betaine has a dipolar structure, hence readily forms bonds with water which facilitates, its easy absorption thus, effectively maintaining the osmoconcentration inside the cell and up-scaling the normal proteins and enzyme synthesis.
Methyl donor: Methylation is essential for a variety of metabolic processes, including protein synthesis, cell growth and membrane integrity, DNA expression regulation, muscle contraction, hormonal signaling, neurotransmission and betaine is one of potent the important methyl donors. Also, the epigenetic property of betaine was recently discovered.
Benefits of betaine supplementation in animals:
Improves digestibility and nutrient utilization
In pigs it has shown to improve overall digestibility, absorption of AA, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP), minerals and other nutrients in the gut. Also, nutrient utilization and the nitrogen free extract digestibility (NFE) was higher in pigs. This higher CF digestibility made the fiber fractions available to microbes, resulting in better fermentation and absorption in growing and finishing pigs.
Improves animal performance and carcass characteristics
A faster growth rate, higher lean mass and improved feed conversion efficiency are the most desirable traits for meat animal. In swine production the current challenge is to increase the lean mass, while reducing the excess back fat. For example, Huang et al. (2006) reported that supplementation of betaine at 0.125% improved carcass traits, increased lean mass between 5.19-17.85% for different tissues and significantly reduced carcass fat and back fat by 13.07% and 10.30%, respectively. This variation is lean mass differs gender wise, but betaine supplementation at different levels has proved to reduce the back fat thickness and increase the lean mass, lean mass weight gain and other desirable carcass traits in pigs, alike.
In addition, betaine also improves performance, growth rates by 38% and 12% and feed efficiencies in pigs when fed at 0%, 0.125% or 0.5%, respectively as compared to control animals (Wray-Cahen et al., 2004). Others have confirmed that rumen-protected betaine (RPB) had better utilization than rumen-unprotected betaine (UPB). Betaine supplementation also improved the performance by increasing the survival rate of conceptus and piglets, litter weight and decreasing the parturition to estrus duration in sows. Betaine is also known to modulate the endocrine axis to exert its beneficial effects.
Improves antioxidant profile and increases tolerance to heat stress
Due to global warming and climate change our livestock are now more susceptible to heat stress, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. This sustained heat stress challenges homeothermy and can lead to metabolic disturbances and oxidative imbalance, thereby negatively affecting performance and production in livestock (Collier et al., 2019). The need for amelioration of heat stress to optimize animal growth, performance and production is ever increasing and researchers all over the world are experimenting with different supplements or natural compounds to alleviate the impact of heat stress.
In recent times betaine has emerged as a potent supplement to reduce the oxidative stress in various species as cells undergoing osmotic or oxidative stress, naturally start accumulating betaine. The antioxidant activity of betaine might also be attributed to its ability to reduce mitochondrial lipid peroxidation, scavenge free radicals and preserve optimum cellular functions (Lu and Cederbaum, 2008). Although the exact molecular mechanism is not yet clear, feeding betaine significantly reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS), free radicals and improves the total antioxidant machinery in animals.
Conclusion
The benefits of betaine supplementation in livestock to improve performance, meat quality, reduce fat, as stress inhibitor is clear from the preceding section. In case of swine there is reduction in back fat or body fat with concurrent increase in lean meat and increased growth rates. Betaine can be a powerful nutria-biotic compound to alleviate heat stress in growing pigs and in future, betaine can be a major feed micronutrient/additive due to its cost effectiveness as compared to purified proteins or amino acids and as performance enhancer or growth promoter.
Declaration of competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests/conflict of interests for this manuscript
References:
Collier, R.J., Baumgard, L. H., Zimbelman, R. B., Xiao. Y., 2019. Heat stress: physiology of acclimation and adaptation. Anim. Front. 9, 1, 1-19.
Huang, Q.C., Xu, Z.R., Han, X.Y., Li, W. F., 2006. Changes in hormones, growth factor and lipid metabolism in finishing pigs fed betaine. Livest. Sci. 105, 78-85.
Lu, Y., Cederbaum, A.I., 2008. CYP2E1 and oxidative liver injury by alcohol. Free Rad. Biol. Med. 44, 723-738.
Wray-Cahen, D., Fernández-Fı́gares, I., Virtanen, E., Steele, N. C., Caperna, T. J., 2004. Betaine improves growth, but does not induce whole body or hepatic palmitate oxidation in swine (Sus scrofa domestica). Comp. Biochem. Physiolo Part A. Mol. Integr Physiol. 137, 131-140.
