BioCholine as a source of choline for poultry

Choline present in feed ingredients and also synthesized in the body may not be adequate to meet the requirements for the physiological functions, optimum performance and lowering the fat content of the liver and body. If choline is inadequate in the diet, the liver fat content and abdominal fat content increases (fatty liver syndrome). Thus, supplemental choline to the diets is necessary. Choline supplementation may be done through synthetic choline chloride or through choline present in natural herbs. The latter form of cholinefrom specialized herbs marketed by M/s Indian Herbs Specialities Pvt. Ltd., Saharanpur, U.P.is the BioCholine. Experiments were conducted to compare the performance of commercial broilers and layers on synthetic choline chloride vis-a-vis BioCholine. In most of the experiments, BioCholine was used at half the dose (0.35 to 0.50 kg per ton feed) of choline chloride 60%. BioCholine was more efficacious in improving the performance of broilers in terms of growth, FCR and European performance efficiency factor. In most cases, liver fat and body fat (abdominal fat) were reduced and dressing percent improved with BioCholine better than with choline chloride. In the experiment in layers, Biocholine improved the egg production, egg mass and FCR better than choline chloride 60%. The hygroscopic nature and aggressive nature of chloride moiety of choline chloride favour the oxidative destruction of other vitamins.