Posthatch Development in Response to Branched-Chain Amino Acids Blend Supplementation in the Diet for Turkey Poults Subjected to Early or Delayed Feeding

Abstract

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) have the potential to promote muscle formation and development in turkeys. A 7-d study was conducted to investigate the effect of a BCAA blend (3 L-leucine:1 L-isoleucine:2 L-valine) on growth performance, yolk sac weight and development of gut and skeletal muscles in turkey poults subjected to delayed feedings. In total, 288 newly hatched poults were allocated into 6 treatment groups in a 3 feeding regimes (FR) and 2 BCAA levels (BCAAL) in completely randomized design under factorial arrangement. Feeding regimes were: immediately feeding and watering (IF), 48 h (WF48) or 72 h (WF72) delay in feeding and watering, and BCAAL was diet with supplementation of 0 (0BCAA) and 2 g BCAA (2BCAA) blend per kg. The WF48 and WF72 treatments decreased growth performance and ventriculus and jejunum weights compared to treatment IF. Treatment IF and WF48 increased pectoralis muscle (PM) weight compared to treatment WF72. Weight gain tended to be higher in the 2BCAA poults. 2BCAA increased ventriculus and PM weights but decreased gut length compared to 0BCAA. 2BCAA increased the feed intake of the WF48 poults compared to the WF72 poults. In conclusion, the BCAA blend promoted posthatch development by enhancing PM in the poults subjected to delayed feedings.