Choline Chloride: an Essential Supplement for Poultry

Choline chloride is a thick, colorless organic liquid containing strongly alkaline substances known as B vitamins, a group of essential vitamins for terrestrial and aquatic animals. Choline chloride is classified as a dietary supplement with no maximum replenishment limits established in Europe and is considered a safe product in the United States. Many poultry breeders buy choline chloride to prevent choline deficiency in poultry. The symptoms of choline deficiency include reduced growth, perosis, and liver fatty infiltration.

Benefits of Choline Chloride Supplementation for Animals

Choline chloride offers many benefits in animal feed. It has been recorded as one of the major sources of methyl groups in the diet. It also plays an important role in animal metabolism. Here are some benefits of choline chloride supplementation for animals you don’t want to miss. 

1. Essential and non-essential metabolic roles in poultry

Choline has three essential roles in the poultry metabolic system, including as a constituent of phospholipids, as prevention of fatty liver accumulation, and as a precursor for acetylcholine synthesis. Choline also has non-essential metabolic functions, including as a source of methyl group, as well as prevention of perosis and fatty liver syndrome in broiler chicks. 

Choline biosynthesis in young chickens is very limited. Supplementing a high-methionine diet without supplementing with choline may not save the poultry daily requirement for choline. Choline performs a very important function in maintaining the structural and functional integrity of cells, organs and the body. It is clear that dietary choline deficiency affects almost every organ in the body, especially when the animal is in a state of high metabolic activity and growth. 

2. Significant for gaining weight

Many researchers believe that choline chloride supplementation further improves weight gain. Growth responses were directly related to dietary choline chloride supplementation, so it is assumed that choline chloride supplementation was 100% bioavailable. The dosage of daily supplementation of choline chloride for poultry varies according to the requirements. Young hens cannot synthesize choline at a sufficient rate and therefore need more choline. Female chickens are less prone to choline deficiency and there is no precise or clear mechanism.

3. Dietary requirements for layers

Layers, like broilers, have an essential requirement for choline. A major use is to form the phospholipid lecithin, an important component of egg yolk. A number of factors may influence a hen’s requirement for choline, including age, feed intake, and dietary crude protein or methionine levels. Methionine is the first limiting amino acid for egg production and, given the common function of choline in methyl group donation, interactions between the two nutrients may be anticipated. Current recommendations of choline chloride dosage for laying hens are 105 mg/day for white egg layers and 115 mg/day for those laying brown eggs. At feed intake levels of 100 and 110 g/day for the two types respectively, this indicates a choline dietary concentration of approximately 1100 mg/kg. Contact us if you want to buy and need this product.