Feed Restriction Reveals Distinct Serum Metabolome Profiles in Chickens Divergent in Feed Efficiency Traits
Date
2019-02-25
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Restrictive feeding influences systemic metabolism of nutrients; however, this impact
has not been evaluated in chickens of diverging feed efficiency. This study investigated the effect
of ad libitum versus restrictive feeding (85% of ad libitum) on the serum metabolome and white
blood cell composition in chickens of diverging residual feed intake (RFI; metric for feed efficiency).
Blood samples were collected between days 33 and 37 post-hatch. While serum glucose was
similar, serum uric acid and cholesterol were indicative of the nutritional status and chicken’s
RFI, respectively. Feed restriction and RFI rank caused distinct serum metabolome profiles, whereby
restrictive feeding also increased the blood lymphocyte proportion. Most importantly, 10 amino
acids were associated with RFI rank in birds, whereas restrictive feeding affected almost all detected
lysophosphatidylcholines, with 3 being higher and 6 being lower in restrictively compared to ad
libitum fed chickens. As indicated by relevance networking, isoleucine, lysine, valine, histidine, and
ornithine were the most discriminant for high RFI, whereas 3 biogenic amines (carnosine, putrescine,
and spermidine) and 3 diacyl-glycerophospholipids (38:4, 38:5, and 40:5) positively correlated with
feed intake and body weight gain, respectively. Only for taurine, feed intake mostly explained
the RFI-associated variation, whereas for most metabolites, other host physiological factors played
a greater role for the RFI-associated differences, and was potentially related to insulin-signaling,
phospholipase A2, and arachidonic acid metabolism. Alterations in the hepatic synthesis of long-chain
fatty acids and the need for precursors for gluconeogenesis due to varying energy demand may
explain the marked differences in serum metabolite profiles in ad libitum and restrictively fed birds.
Description
Publication history: Accepted - 20 February 2019; Published - 25 February 2019.
item.page.type
Article
item.page.format
Keywords
broiler chicken, serum metabolome, amino acids, lipids, feed intake level, residual feed intake
Citation
Metzler-Zebeli, B., Siegerstetter, S.-C., Magowan, E., Lawlor, P., O’Connell, N. and Zebeli, Q. (2019) ‘Feed Restriction Reveals Distinct Serum Metabolome Profiles in Chickens Divergent in Feed Efficiency Traits’, Metabolites. MDPI AG, 9(2), p. 38. doi: 10.3390/metabo9020038.