Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Histidine, beta-Alanine, Magnesium Oxide, and Blood Meal on Carnosine and Anserine Concentrations of Broiler Breast Meat

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of histidine, beta-alanine, blood meal (BM), magnesium oxide (MgO), and their combination on carnosine and anserine concentrations of broiler breast meat. A total of 210 1-d-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to 3 replicates of 7 dietary treatments: (1) Control diet (C), (2) C+histidine (His), (3) C+beta-alanine (beta-Ala), (4) C+histidine+beta-alanine (His+beta-Ala); (5) C +histidine+beta-alanine+MgO (His+beta-Ala+MgO), (6) C+5% BM (BM), and (7) C+5% BM+MgO (BM+ MgO). Histidine, beta-alanine, and MgO were supplemented to diets at 2.9, 3.7, and 4.0 g/kg diet, respectively. The broilers were fed experimental diets for 32 d and the concentrations of camosine and anserine in breast meat were measured weekly and at 32 d of the age. Results indicated that the concentrations of camosine, anserine, and their sum in breast meat were increased (linear, P<0.01) with age in all treatments. There were significant differences in camosine concentrations among treatments in all weeks. At 32 d, all 3 histidine-supplemented treatments (His, His+beta-Ala, and His+beta-Ala+MgO) and BM+MgO treatment had greater (P<0.05) camosine concentrations than the control. The anserine concentrations differed (P<0.01) among treatments at 7, 14, and 21 d. The sum of camosine and anserine concentrations was the greatest for His+beta-Ala+MgO treatment, but the least for beta-Ala treatment at 21 d. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of histidine alone or with beta-alanine may increase camosine concentrations, but not anserine concentrations of broiler breast meat. Dietary supplementation of additional MgO in diets containing His, beta-Ala, and/or BM has little effect on camosine and anserine concentrations in broiler breast meat.