Guanidinoacetic acid supplementation improves feed conversion in broilers subjected to heat stress associated with muscle creatine loading and arginine sparing

Abstract

It was hypothesized that dietary guanidinoacetic acid ( GAA ), the precursor of creatine ( Cr ), would be beneficial to heat-stressed finisher broilers owing to improved cellular energy status and arginine sparing effects. A total of 720 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers were allocated to 3 treatments, 0 (control), 0.6, or 1.2 g/kg of GAA added to complete corn–soybean meal diets, and were fed for 39 D, with 12 replicates (20 birds each) per treatment. A chronic cyclic heat stress model (at a temperature of 34°C and 50 to 60% relative humidity for 7 h daily) was applied in the finisher phase (day 25–39). Samples were taken on day 26 and 39 to determine thrombocyte, white blood cell, corticosterone, protein and amino acid levels in blood and Cr, phosphocreatine ( PCr ), and adenosine triphosphate levels in the breast muscle. Meat quality was assessed on day 40 after overnight fasting. Guanidinoacetic acid at a dose of 1.2 g/kg decreased feed-to-gain ratio compared with the control in the grower phase (1.32 vs . 1.35, respectively; P <0.05). In the finisher period, the supplementation of 1.2 g/kg of GAA reduced feed intake compared with the control (–3.3%, P <0.05), whereas both GAA supplementation levels improved feed efficiency markedly (1.76, 1.66, and 1.67 for 0 [control], 0.6, and 1.2 g/kg of GAA, respectively, P <0.05). Mortality outcomes highlight that GAA feeding improved survival during heat stress, supported by lower panting frequency (linear effect, P <0.05). Plasma arginine was higher with increase in dietary GAA concentration on day 26 (+18.3 and + 30.8% for 0.6 and 1.2 g/kg of GAA, respectively; P <0.05). This suggests enhanced availability of arginine for other metabolic purposes than de novo GAA formation. In the breast muscle, PCr (day 39, P <0.05), free Cr (day 39, P <0.05), total Cr (both days, P <0.05), and PCr-to-adenosine triphosphate ratio (day 39, P <0.05) levels were increased with higher GAA content in diet. Guanidinoacetic acid supplementation improved feed conversion and survival during chronic cyclic heat stress, which may be associated with enhanced breast muscle energy status and arginine sparing effect.

Guanidinoacetic acid is efficacious in improving growth performance and muscle energy homeostasis in broiler chicks fed arginine-deficient or arginine-adequate diets

“…However, only limited information exists regarding the dose-dependent ability for GAA to spare Arg in practical broiler diets, as well as effects on Cr-related metabolites in muscle (i.e., phosphagen concentrations) or glycogen. In terms of Arg-adequate diets, current research indicates that GAA improves growth performance (Michiels et al, 2012; Mousavi et al., 2013; Majdeddin et al, 2017; Cordova-Noboa et al., 2018a,b), but outcomes related to muscle energy reserves like phosphagens or glycogen, or in comparison to animal protein-containing control diets with known Cr content, are scarce (Michiels et al, 2012). Thus, we hypothesized that GAA supplementation would elicit positive effects on growth performance specifically when included in Arg-deficient, practical broiler diets, with additional benefits involving muscle phosphagen concentrations in birds receiving both Arg-deficient and Arg-adequate diets.…”

Effects of guanidinoacetic acid supplementation on zootechnical performance and some biometric indices in broilers challenged with T3-Hormone

“…It may partially compensate for the low ATP as a result of T 3hormone supplementation that might be dissipated in the form of heat loss or as a result of low feed intake. Although muscle Cre concentration was not measured under current study, previous studies showed an increase in muscle Cre level when supplemented with GAA either with or without fish meal supplementation (Lemme et al 2011) or under the stressful condition of cyclic heat stress (Majdeddin et al 2020).…”

Creatine nitrate supplementation strengthens energy status and delays glycolysis of broiler muscle via inhibition of LKB1/AMPK pathway

“…Some previous studies showed that dietary long-term (>35 d) supplementation with GAA at dose rate of 600 to 1,200 mg/kg can improve the feed conversion efficiency and increase body weight gain of broilers ( Michiels et al, 2012 ; Córdova-Noboa et al, 2018 ; He et al, 2019 ), and even under stress condition ( Majdeddin et al, 2020 ). Faraj et al (2014) reported that dietary addition of 4 to 12 g/kg CMH for a trial period of 42 d can improve birds’ growth performance.…”