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Title: In vivo measurement of body composition of chickens using quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR)

Author
item Mitchell, Alva
item Rosebrough, Robert
item TAICHER, G - Echo Medical Systems
item KOVNER, I - Echo Medical Systems

Submitted to: Poultry Science Association Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/4/2010
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: n/a

Technical Abstract: QMR is a nuclear magnetic resonance based method for measuring the fat, lean and water content of the total body of the live animal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of QMR for measuring the body composition of chickens while comparing QMR results to those obtained by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and chemical analysis (CA). A total of 144 birds, were scanned live (non-anesthetized) by QMR, killed, and then scanned by DXA. The birds were Ross 708 broiler chickens and ranged in weight from 768 to 2230 g. In addition, 32 of the carcasses were chemically analyzed for total body lipid, water and ash content. For the entire group of birds, the QMR and DXA measurements of total body water and total body lean mass were in good agreement (1149±202g vs. 1169±1839g and 1395±246g vs. 1354±226g, respectively, P>0.05) and highly correlated (R2=0.96 and 0.96, respectively). However, the QMR measurement of total body fat was significantly lower (P<0.05) than that measured by DXA (94±44g vs. 190±43g, respectively) and poorly correlated (R2=0.40). Compared to CA, QMR underestimated the percentage of total body fat by 37% while DXA overestimated the percentage of fat by 22% (9.7±3.6 by CA vs. 6.1±4.3 by QMR and 11.8±3.0 by DXA, P<0.05). Both QMR and DXA measurements of percentage total body fat were highly correlated with the CA measurement (R2= 0.96 and 0.82, respectively). Both QMR and DXA estimates of total body water were close to the CA measurement (1153±232g by CA vs. 1199±239g by QMR and 1202±218g by DXA, P>0.05), with R2 values of 0.81 and 0.82, respectively. In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that QMR is a potentially useful method for measuring the body composition of chickens. Major advantages of this method are that no anesthesia is required and no other measurements are needed for the data input or analysis.