Growing potential for betaine in poultry feed

摘要

Betaine has been used for many years in poultry feeds. It basically has two important metabolic functions, it can serve as a methyl donor and it helps in maintaining cellular osmolarity, Betaine can be used as an alternative donor of methyl groups forcholine and methionine. Both betaine and choline can be used to replace part of the methionine in feeds that is used for methyl donation. The amount of methionine that can be replaced seems to be dependent on the cys-teine level in the diet and hence onthe amount of methionine that has to be used for the formation of cysteine. As a methyl donor, betaine seems to be more efficient than choline, which makes betaine an attractive methyl donor source in poultry feeds. Besides the use of betaine as a methyl donor as a potential substitute for choline and methionine, there is also evidence that betaine has other functional properties in poultry, making it a more valuable nutrient in poultry feeds. Based on literature data, this might be particularly true under stressful conditions and at high performance levels.