ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Physiology and Management
Impact of betaine on laying hens' productive and physiological reactions at the late stage of production
Provisionally accepted
Hanan Al-khalaifah1*
Saad Attallah Al-Ardhi2Husam H. Nafea3Afaf Al-Nasser1Hassan A. Khalil4Mahmoud I. S. Hassan5Hitham A. Ahmed5- 1Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait City, Kuwait
- 2Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, Al-Muthanna University, Iraq, Al-Muthanna, Iraq
- 3Anbar University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Production, University of Anbar, Iraq, Anbar, Iraq
- 4Suez Canal University Faculty of Agriculture, Ismailia, Egypt
- 5Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut branch, Egypt, Assiut, Egypt
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Due to betaine's anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties, it may serve as a beneficial feed supplement for laying hens. This research aimed to evaluate whether betaine enhances the productive, reproductive, and intestinal health of layer hens. A total of 240 laying hens, aged 60 weeks, were divided into four treatment groups, each consisting of 60 hens. Each group was further divided into four replicates of 15 hens each. The first group, designated as the control (CTRL), received only the basal diet. The other treatment groups received the basal diet supplemented with betaine at levels of 0.3, 0.6, or 1.2 g/kg, respectively. The experiment was conducted over 24 weeks. The results indicated that the addition of betaine improved the growth performance traits of Fayoumi laying hens. Specifically, the inclusion of 0.6 g of betaine per kg of feed led to increased fertility (P ≤ 0.05) and hatchability rates. Additionally, betaine treatments significantly enhanced (P ≤ 0.05) both absolute and relative carcass weights while reducing abdominal fat. Moreover, a betaine level of 1.2 g/kg improved the lipid profile by lowering serum levels of total lipids, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). This level also significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased the count of beneficial bacteria, including total bacterial count (TBC) and Lactobacilli, in the cecum, while reducing the count of pathogenic bacteria. Overall, dietary treatments with betaine, particularly at levels of 0.6 and 1.2 g/kg, could enhance performance, carcass traits, blood indices, and cecal bacterial populations of Fayoumi laying hens.
Keywords: Fayoumi layer hens, Reproductive performance, Blood indicators, carcass traits, intestinal microbiota
Received: 18 Sep 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Al-khalaifah, Al-Ardhi, Nafea, Al-Nasser, Khalil, S. Hassan and Ahmed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hanan Al-khalaifah, hkhalifa2025@gmail.com
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