| Summary: | The objective of the current work was to evaluate the effect of drinking water with various levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) and betaine
supplementation on the performance and gene expression of betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) in broiler chickens.
In a completely randomized design with a 3×2 factorial arrangement, chicks were assigned to six treatments with four replicates and 15
chicks per each. The treatments were included of three levels of total dissolved solids (400, 2.000 and 3.500 ppm) and two levels of betaine
supplementation (0 and 0.2% of diet). Weight gain decreased and feed conversion ratio and water intake increased as TDS of water increased.
Betaine supplementation had no effect on weight gain and water intake during the grower period, but had a significant effect on gain and
feed conversion ratio in the finisher period. Mortality rate and excreta moisture content increased as TDS of water increased. Excreta moisture
content decreased with betaine supplementation. Gene expression of BHMT decreased significantly with increases in TDS level and betaine
supplementation increased its expression (28 folds) as compared with the non-additive group. It was concluded that consumption of drinking
water with higher than 2.000 ppm TDS adversely and betaine supplementation positively affect the performance of broiler chickens. The lowest
feed conversion ratio was seen in chicks fed 400 and 2.000 ppm TDS with betaine supplementation.
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