Dietary inclusion level and time effects of taurine on broiler performance, meat quality, oxidative status and muscle taurine content

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of taurine on growth performance, meat quality, oxidative status and muscle taurine content in broilers. In Experiment 1, 50 one-day-old male Cobb chicks were given a diet supplemented with 0, 0.125, 0.50, 2.00 or 8.00 g/kg taurine from 1 to 42 d of age. In Experiment 2, 80 22-d-old male Cobb chicks were given a diet supplemented with 4.00 g/kg taurine for 0, 1, 2 or 3 weeks. Taurine contents of thigh and breast muscle increased linearly with increasing dietary taurine. Taurine supplementation for 1, 2 and 3 weeks significantly increased the taurine content of breast muscle. The taurine contents of liver and thigh meat were significantly increased by taurine supplementation for 3 weeks. The taurine contents of thigh and breast meat from broilers given a diet supplemented with 4 g/kg taurine for 3 weeks increased to 1.89 times the concentrations of the control group. There were no detrimental effects on growth performance, breast or thigh muscle yield, pH value or drip-water loss, and taurine supplementation did not affect the serum carbonyl content. Serum malondialdehyde concentration was significantly decreased by taurine supplementation for 1, 2 or 3 weeks.