2013 Volume 50 Issue 3 Pages 251-256
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of histidine, β-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+β-alanine (β-Ala), (4) C+histidine+β-alanine (His+β-Ala ); (5) C+histidine+β-alanine+MgO (His+β-Ala+MgO), (6) C+5% BM (BM), and (7) C+5% BM+MgO (BM+MgO). Histidine, β-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 carnosine and anserine in breast meat were measured weekly and at 32 d of the age. Results indicated that the concentrations of carnosine, anserine, and their sum in breast meat were increased (linear, P<0.01) with age in all treatments. There were significant differences in carnosine concentrations among treatments in all weeks. At 32 d, all 3 histidine-supplemented treatments (His, His+β-Ala, and His+β-Ala+MgO) and BM+MgO treatment had greater (P<0.05) carnosine concentrations than the control. The anserine concentrations differed (P<0.01) among treatments at 7, 14, and 21 d. The sum of carnosine and anserine concentrations was the greatest for His+β-Ala+MgO treatment, but the least for β-Ala treatment at 21 d. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of histidine alone or with β-alanine may increase carnosine concentrations, but not anserine concentrations of broiler breast meat. Dietary supplementation of additional MgO in diets containing His, β-Ala, and/or BM has little effect on carnosine and anserine concentrations in broiler breast meat.
