Effects of Dietary Adenine on Growth, Feed Intake, Purine Excretion and Tissue Purine Concentrations in Young Chickens

Abstract

It was examined whether dietary adenine has adverse effects on growth and feed intake in 2-month-old chickens as reported previously in younger chickens. The male chickens were fed ad libitum on control and adenine (0.96%) diets for 15 days. Dietary adenine retarded chicken growth, reduced feed intake and increased renal weight per body weight and water intake (P<0.05), without affecting feed conversion and nitrogen retention. This dietary treatment also caused five-fold or more excretory rates of uric acid and xanthine (P<0.05), and an appreciable excretion of adenine and hypoxanthine. However, no effects of dietary adenine on adenine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid and adenosine monophosphate concentrations were found in the blood, liver and kidney. Although 2,8-dihydroxyadenine (2,8-DHA) is usually not detectable in excreta, blood, kidney and liver in chickens, the substance appreciably appeared and accumulated in excreta and in the kidney when adenine was fed.It is concluded that dietary adenine has similar adverse effects on feed intake, growth and renal weight in 2-month-old chickens to those in younger ones, and also that dietary adenine causes 2,8-DHA to appear in excreta and kidney.

Keywords

• dietary adenine
• adverse effects
• growth retardation
• adenine metabolites
• young chickens