CZECH JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, cilt.66, sa.7, ss.281-291, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
Energy, known as the most expensive nutrient in broiler feed, is what strongly adjusts and affects the growth of broilers. Creatine has a key role in cellular energy metabolism and could be synthesised from guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) in the liver; however, its de novo synthesis is not able to adequately fulfil the demand of energy metabolism, especially in fast-growing modern broilers. So the aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of commercial GAA in energy-reduced broiler diets on performance and intestinal development. Overall, 11 400 day-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments with ten replicates in each. Dietary treatments were designed as a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement with three levels of dietary metabolisable energy (AME(n)) recommended by Aviagen for Ross 308 broilers (12.55 MJ/kg, 12.97 MJ/kg and 13.38 MJ/kg for starter, grower and finisher, respectively), 0.209 MJ/kg and 0.418 MJ/kg reduced and two levels of GAA (0.00% and 0.06%). There was no significant GAA x AME(n) interaction for all performance parameters, carcass traits and jejunal morphological parameters (except for the villus width). Reduction of dietary AME(n) (0.209 MJ/kg and/or 0.418 MJ/kg) caused a significant depression in body weight (BW) gain (P < 0.001) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.001). However, a decreasing AME(n )level increased villus height (P < 0.003) and villus surface area (P < 0.03), while crypt depth and villus width were similar. The GAA improved final BW and FCR by 1.77% and 1.66%, respectively (P < 0.001). Birds fed low energy diets supplemented with GAA showed a significant improvement in the performance so that BW and FCR were the same as in the control birds; however, no such positive effects were obtained in jejunal villus development. Hence, it might be concluded that 0.06% GAA supplementation improves BW and FCR and can save at least 0.209 MJ/kg dietary AME(n) in broiler diets.