Abstract

In a completely randomized design, the study was undertaken to investigate the effects of additional DL-methionine (Met) in starter diet of broilers on blood lipids (21 days of age) and abdominal fat (42 days of age). 288 days-old Ross 308 hybrid chicks were divided into 16 groups for the starting period. Dietary treatments were divided into four levels of sulfur amino acids (SAA), [0.7(control), 0.8 (NRC), 0.9 and 1.0% diet] with graded levels of Met (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% diet). At 21 days of age, chicks receiving 0.2% Met had lower (p≤0.05) serum total cholesterol (TC) than the control (98.93 vs. 113.75 mg/dl, respectively). Serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) in chicks that received 0.3% Met was significantly (p≤0.05) higher than that of the control (80.60 versus 63.45 mg/dl, respectively). In chicks fed 0.2 and 0.3% Met, serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) were lower (p≤0.05) than for chicks that received 0 and 0.1% Met containing diet (17.25 and 13.33 versus. 24.15 and 25.00 mg/dl, respectively). Serum triglyceride (TG) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the control group was significantly (p≤0.05) greater than that of the other groups (136.60 versus 72.45, 66.53 and 54.27 mg/dl for TG; 26.15 vs. 14.57, 13.33 and 10.60 mg/dl for VLDL, respectively). Consequently, In 42 days of age, 0.2% Met in the starter diet had significantly (p≤0.05) reduced abdominal fat than the control (1.58 versus 2.5%, respectively). Based on the results, it seems that additional Met in broiler starter diet can increase good cholesterol (HDL) in blood level and reduce abdominal fat.

Key words: Methionine, broilers, blood lipids, abdominal fat and starter period.

Abbreviation

Abbreviations: Met, DL-Methionine; SAA, sulfur amino acids; TC, total cholesterol;HDL, high density lipoprotein; LDL, low density lipoprotein; TG, triglyceride; VLDL,very low density lipoprotein; A. fat, abdominal fat; ME, metabolizable energy; LW, live weight; LWG, live weight gain; FI, feed intake; FCR, feed conversion ratio; HSL,hormone-sensitive lipase; CP, crud protein.