Every formulator giving good interest to the quality of raw material which not included the quality of choline and its amount must give good attention to the quality of choline chloride.
Marketing & Technical Support Specialist of Poultry Nutrition & Feed Additives – Egypt
Choline is a beta-hydroxyethyl trimethylammonium hydroxide.
• Pure choline is a colorless, viscous, strongly alkaline liquid that is notably hygroscopic which is soluble in water, formaldehyde and alcohol, has no definite melting or boiling point.
• The chloride salt of this compound, choline chloride. This choline chloride consists of deliquescent white crystals, which are very soluble in water and alcohols. Aqueous solutions are almost pH neutral.
Choline is ubiquitously distributed in all plant and animal cells, mostly in the form of the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine (lecithin).
Choline is present in the unsupplemented diet mainly in the form of lecithin, with less than 10% present either as the free base or as sphingomyelin. Choline is released from lecithin by hydrolysis in the intestinal lumen & absorbed in the jejunum and ileum mainly by an energy and sodium dependent carrier mechanism.
The main function of choline is to act as a lipotropic agent and it prevents the abnormal fatty infiltration in liver (Fatty Liver Syndrome) as the enzyme hepatic betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) is stimulated by choline. It helps in the formation of an excitatory neurotransmitter-acetylcholine, which is responsible for proper functioning of the nervous system and maintaining its harmony.
WHY IS THERE A NEED OF EXOGENOUS SUPPLEMENTATION OF CHOLINE IN FEED?
Since there is no consistency in the choline content in the natural feedstuffs and also their bioavailability is not predictable. Bioavailability of the native choline in feed ingredients.
Rapeseed has significantly higher choline content than soybean and peanut meals.
HOW CHOLINE CHLORIDE IS PRODUCED?
There are three basic raw materials which are required for the production of choline chloride which are as follows: 1-Trimethyl amine (TMA) 2-Ethylene oxide (EO) 3-Hydrochloric acid (HCl) The intermediate product thus produced is treated with ethylene oxide (EO) to neutralize the TMA in the finished product.
If it is not neutralized properly then it would result in a higher level of TMA content in the finished product. Most of the cheaper brands available in the international market have high level of TMA (Ethylene oxide being the costliest amongst all).
HOW DOES THIS CHOLINE HAVE BAD EFFECT ON BIRDS?
1. High trimethylamine content causes toxicity in birds (bad quality choline):
The most important & limiting raw material, which decides the quality of the product, is trimethylamine (TMA), which is highly corrosive in nature which its permissible limit i.e. >200ppm (80ppm to 110ppm) so, higher by 0.5%-1% than the actual content, it causes toxicity in birds, causing sloughing of the intestinal mucosa and results in malabsorption (reduced nutrient utilization).Moreover, the fumes generated by TMA while entering the respiratory tract of the bird lead to discomfort that restricts the birds from feeding and ultimately it results in reduced production and may even cause to death.
Specially In layer: It will affect the product quality and the palatability (irritative ammoniacal odour), causing bad odour& taste in eggs.
2. Microbial choline degradation to (TMA) (high amount of choline):
Non-absorbed choline is one of the precursors of TMA produced in the gut by anaerobic symbiotic microbes.
TMA is efficiently absorbed from the G.I.T and then converted in the liver to TMAO by the flavin-containing monooxygenase isoform 3 enzyme (FMO3). Both TMA and TMAO are eliminated in the urine (urinary total TMA i.e. TTMA = TMA plus TMAO).
To avoid these bad effects, take care of some parameters while selecting your choline.
