Betaine is a nutrient found in foods like sugar beets that acts as an organic osmolyte and methyl donor. It is rapidly absorbed and metabolized in the liver and kidneys. Studies have shown that supplementing betaine in poultry diets can improve performance by increasing weight gain and feed efficiency, and enhancing carcass characteristics like increasing breast yield and decreasing fat percentage. Betaine provides benefits to poultry such as methionine and choline sparing effects and improved acid-base balance.

1. Betaine

2. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

3. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

4. What is Betaine?
› Also known as trimethylglycine, is a zwitterionic quaternary ammonium compound.
› It is found in many foods.
› It can be manufactured in the mitochondria, it is not considered essential.

5. First Discovery
› Betaine was first discovered in sugar beets.
› Sugar beets contain high levels of betaine, which
accumulate in condensed soluble (116gm/kg)
› Betaine is also present in other plants, animals and
seafood.

6. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

7. Betaine Form and Source
› Betaine as a nutrient in broiler nutrition was used in two forms:
1. Betaine anhydrous
• Extracted from sugar beets.
2. Betaine hydrochloride
• Synthetic production.

8. Cont. …
› Nutritional properties of both forms are equal, unveiling that betaine HCl is another
sources that is:
1. Less-expensive
2. Non-hygroscopic
3. Available year-round.

9. Cont. …
› Nowadays, betaine is also available in several purified forms:
1. Anhydrous
2. Monophosphate
3. Hydrochloride
› Different sources of betaine gave the same analytical results.

10. Cont. …
› Because both molecules are identical after gastric passage, no differences
between betaine hydrochloride and betaine anhydrous as an effective feed additive
could reasonably be expected.

11. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

12. Absorption
› Betaine is rapidly absorbed in the duodenum.
› Cmax = 2 hrs.
› Betaine is 25% bioavailable, while 75% of it could remain at the GIT intracellular
level.
› Intracellular accumulation takes place via active and passive transport systems.

13. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

14. Metabolism
› Betaine is eliminated by metabolism, not by excretion.
› It is catabolized via a series of enzyme reactions in the mitochondria of liver and
kidney cells.

15. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

16. Action of Betaine
› The principal physiological role of betaine is to act as:
1. Organic osmolyte
2. Methyle donor (transmethylation).

17. Organic Osmolyte
› Betaine is a nonionic osmolyte, which allows it to accumulate in cells without
disrupting normal function.

18. Betaine and Gut Health
› Intestinal cells use betaine as an osmolyte to prevent dehydration due to a high
solute concentration of intestinal contents.
› This is important to maintain the metabolic activities of intestinal cells.
› Loss of cell water for example will bring cells in a more catabolic state.

19. Cont. …
Betaine and phagocytosis
› Macrophages in the intestinal wall change the level of intracellular betaine depending
on the extracellular solute concentration.
› This might indicate that betaine can affect phagocytosis and the release of
inflammatory cytokine.

20. Cont. …
› Klasing et al. (2001), who reported improved intestinal cell functions in coccidiosis
challenged broiler chickens. This was indicated by:
1. Increased betaine levels in intestinal epithelium
2. A less severe shortening of duodenal villi
3. More leukocytes in the epithelium and in the lamina propria (this could be associated with a
more effective clearance of sporozoites)

21. Cont. …
Additional work
› Showed that betaine enhanced phagocytosis of E. acervulina and NO release, which
are important functions in the defense against parasites.

22. Methyl Donor
› Betaine acts as a methyl donor for the manufacture of methionine from
homocysteine.

23. Methionine
S-adenosylmethionine
(SAMe)
Homocysteine
Methylation
Used as a methyl donor for
most methylation reactions in
the body
Is converted to
gives up its methyl group to
a methylation reaction
amino acid
synthesis
re-methylated to
methionine
betaine-homocysteine
methyltransferase
(BHMT)

24. Plan of Talk
› What is Betaine?
› Forms and sources
› Absorption
› Metabolism
› Action
› Benefits

25. Benefits of Betaine
› Betaine, with its dual function, has been tested as a feed or water additive in many
broiler studies, and evaluated for its:
1. Methionine sparing
2. Choline sparing
3. Performance enhancing
4. Acid-base balancing
5. Osmolytic

26. Betaine and Broilers
› Results show that betaine has many benefits to the broiler industry including:
1. Improved carcass yield.
2. Increased carcass yield and breast percentage.
3. Increase dressing percentage in 42 day old male broilers.
4. Improved weight gain and feed efficiency.
5. Improve performance under heat stress.

27. Cont. …
6. Decreased abdominal fat.
7. Decreased mortality.
8. Increased re-methylation of homocysteine through methionine synthase.
9. Methionine and choline sparing effects.
10. Increased profit margins.

28. Betaine and Methionine Level
› Betaine, when supplemented in a methionine deficient diet, can improve:
1. Growth rate
2. Feed conversion efficiency
3. Breast yield
› Betaine, when supplemented regardless of methionine levels, can improve:
1. Feed conversion
2. Breast yield

29. Trials Results Summary

30. Trials Results Summary
› Summary of peer-reviewed results of dietary betaine on:
1. Performance parameters
2. Slaughter characteristics in poultry

31. Broiler
Betaine inclusion,
%
Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.05-0.15
- Increased ADG
- Decreased FCR
- Increased breast yield
- Decreased fat percentage
Virtanen and Rosi, 1995
0.08 - Increased breast yield Virtanen and Rosi, 1995
0.15 Augustine et al., 1997
0.10-0.50 Matthews et al., 1997
0.1 Waldenstedt et al., 1999

32. Broiler
Betaine inclusion, % Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.15 Decreased FCR (days 0-14) Teeter et al., 1999
0.1 Decreased FCR (days 0-42)
Increased breast yield
Waldroup et al., 2006
0.05-0.10 — Pirompud et al., 2005
0.05 — Increased carcass yield Esteve-Garcia and Mack, 2000

33. Broiler
Betaine
inclusion, %
Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.08
Increased ADG
Matthews and Southern, 2000
0.1 Farooqi et al., 2005
0.1 Increased ADG (days 0-42) - Increased dressing % Waldroup and Fritts, 2005
0.04-0.07
- Increased ADG
- Decreased FCR
- Increased carcass yield
- Increase muscle protein yield
Attia et al., 2005
0.07-0.14 - Decreased abdominal fat Hassan et al., 2005
0.05
- Increased breast yield
- Decreased abdominal fat
Zhan et al., 2006
0.05-0.10 El-Husseiny et al., 2007
0.08-0.23 Honarbakhsh et al., 2007

34. Turkeys
Betaine inclusion,
%
Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.1 — - Increased breast yield Remus, 2001
0.09 Increased ADG
- Increased breast yield
- Decreased abdominal fat
Noll et al., 2002

35. Meat Ducks
Betaine inclusion,
%
Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.5
- Increased ADG
- Decreased FCR
- Increased breast yield
- Decreased abdominal fat
Wang et al., 2004

36. Layers
Betaine inclusion, % Performance effects Carcass effects Reference
0.04-0.08 - Increased egg production — Lu and Zou, 2006
0.03-0.12 - Increased egg weight — Park et al., 2006