EFFECT OF ARGININE SUPPLEMENTATION ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND IMMUNITY OF BROILERS: A REVIEW

The increasing demand of animal protein can be fulfilled by raising meat type broiler chicken (Hussain et al., 2015). Broiler meat is a cheap source of animal protein which is available in local market for consumption, but the demand is increasing day by day. For this purpose, different levels of amino acids can be added in feed to improve growth performance, feed conversion ratio (FCR), metabolism and immunity of the broiler birds. Amino acids are building blocks of protein and regulate different pathways which are necessary for growth, maintenance, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and immunity in birds (Ball et al., 2007). Arginine is considered an essential amino acid for poultry because broilers are unable to synthesize arginine due to lack of major key enzymes like ornithine carbamoyl-transferase and hepatic arginase in the urea cycle (Fouad et al., 2013). Arginine plays an important role in protein synthesis, growth, immunity and some metabolic pathway (Khajali and Wideman, 2010). Arginine stimulates the release of insulin, insulin-like growth factor and growth hormone in the bloodstream (Silva et al., 2012). The NRC requirement of arginine is 1.25% from 0 to 21st day and 1.10% from 22 to 42 day of the life of broiler birds. These higher arginine requirement in broiler are because of low synthesis of endogenous arginine and deposition of protein for rapid growth (Ball et al., 2007). Kidd et al. (2001) reported that increasing arginine improved growth performance. Similarly, recent study demonstrated that body weight (BW) and FCR improved in birds with increasing the arginine level in the diet of broilers (Ale Saheb Fosoul et al., 2019). Likewise, Castro et al. (2019) showed that body weight gain (BWG), FCR and FI was more in broilers birds supplemented with arginine. However, decreasing the level of arginine as compare to recommended NRC level results in decrease growth rate and immunity in broilers (Ale Saheb Fosoul et al., 2019; Jiao et al., 2010; ). Jiao et al. (2010) reported that carcass yield, quality and breast muscle yield were lower in birds fed arginine deficient diet. Likewise, Ale Saheb Fosoul et al. (2019) concluded that birds fed arginine deficient diet had lower BW and poor FCR than birds fed optimum arginine diets. However, a compiled data on arginine levels on growth performance, FCR, metabolism and immunity of the broiler birds is not available. This review will provide the brief note on the effect of different levels of arginine on the growth performance, FCR, metabolism and immunity of the broiler birds. Effect of arginine on the growth performance of broilers: Growth performance and BWG is mainly dependent upon the dietary amino acid supplementation which are building blocks J. Glob. Innov. Agric. Soc. Sci., 2019,7(4): 141-144. ISSN (Online): 2311-3839; ISSN (Print): 2312-5225 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22194/JGIASS/7.879 http://www.jgiass.com