Effects of methionine and arginine dietary levels on the immunity of broiler chickens submitted to immunological stimuli

Abstract

The present study aimed at assessing the effects of methionine and arginine on the immune response of broiler chickens submitted to immunological stimuli. Three methionine concentrations (0.31, 0.51, and 0.66% from 1 to 21 days of age; 0.29, 0.49, and 0.64% from 22 to 42 days of age) and 2 arginine concentrations (1.33 and 1.83%; 1.14 and 1.64% for the same life periods) were tested. Birds were divided into two groups for immunological stimuli (3x2x2 arrangement). Vaccines against Marek's disease, fowl pox, infectious bronchitis, Freund's Complete Adjuvant, Sheep red blood cells (SRBC), and avian tuberculin were administered to one group as immunological stimuli; the other group did not receive any stimulus. The experiment was carried out with 432 one-day-old male Ross broilers, distributed into 12 treatments with 6 replicates of 6 birds each. Performance data were weekly collected. Anti-SRBC antibodies were collected by hemagglutination test and cell immune response (CIR) was measured by tubercularization reaction in one wattle 24 hours after administration of the second tuberculin injection at 42 days of age. The weight difference between the two wattles of each bird (one injected with tuberculin and the other not) was the measure of CIR. Arginine levels did not influence either bird performance or immune response. Methionine concentrations higher or lower than usually adopted in broiler production (0.51 and 0.49%) equally failed to influence the birds' immune humoral response, but the best CIR was observed at the intermediate methionine level. Vaccines administered on the first day of age impaired bird performance up to the 21st day of age

Biochemical and immunological responses of young turkeys to vaccination against Ornithobacterium rhinotraheale and different levels of dietary methionine

“…Similar results were reported in an experiment with broiler chickens (Swain and Johri 2000) where dietary methionine levels varied over a wider range of 0.37% to 0.87%. In other studies (Deng et al 2007, Rubin et al 2007, reduced body weight gains were noted in chickens fed diets with a twice greater methionine deficiency, relative to the NRC recommendations (1994), than in our experiment with turkeys. Lemme et al (2005) analyzed six graded dietary methionine+cysteine levels and found that increased methionine concentrations contributed to body weight gains in turkey toms between 5 and 9 weeks of the rearing period.…”

“…Explanations: see Table 4 the body weight gains of female turkeys, whereas diets with methionine concentrations excessing of the recommended intake had no influence on the growth rate of birds. Also in experiments with chickens, diets with an increased methionine content, relative to the NRC guidelines (1994), did not stimulate the growth of birds (Deng et al 2007, Rubin et al 2007, Bouyek 2012. In the first month of our study, when total body weight gains were low (0.8 kg/month), turkeys did nor respond to graded dietary methionine levels.…”

Immunological and biochemical indicators in turkeys fed diets with a different Methionine content

“…The vast majority of experimental studies conducted to date have focused on the effect of methionine on selected immune mechanisms in chickens (Swain and Johri 2000, Deng et al 2007, Rubin et al 2007, and only a few authors have investigated the effect of methionine (mostly methionine deficiency) on lymphocytes in peripheral blood and lymphoid organs in broilers (Zhang and Guo 2008, Bouyeh 2012, Wu et al 2012.…”

“…tathionine, homocysteine, S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and glutathione (Rubin et al 2007, Elshorbagy et al 2013. The S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) is a donor of methyl group for betaine, choline, phosphatidylcholine, creatine, epinephrine, melatonin, anserine and N-methyl amino acids.…”

“…Methionine, cysteine and their derivatives are also involved in functioning of the immune system (Rubin et al 2007. Dietary methionine levels exceeding recommended values have been found to stimulate humoral and cellular immune response in broiler chickens (Tsiagbe et al 1987, Swain and Johri 2000, Deng et al 2007.…”