Effects of Dietary Betaine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, Meat Quality, and Fatty acid Composition in Broiler Chickens

Betaine, a natural methyl donor and osmolyte, influences broiler growth performance, protein and lipid metabolism, and meat quality. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary betaine supplementation on the growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and fatty acid composition of the breast and leg muscles of broiler chickens. A total of 120 one-day-old male Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly allocated into 3 groups, each with 10 replicates of 4 chicks, for 42 days. The birds were fed a basal diet without betaine (control) and basal diets supplemented with 1 or 2 g/kg betaine. Dietary betaine increased body weight, average daily gain, and average daily feed intake compared with the control group throughout the trial (P