Betaine, also known as glycine trimethyl inner-salt, is a non-toxic, harmless natural compound quaternary amine alkaloid. Its molecular formula is C5H12NO2, its molecular weight is 118, and its melting point is 293℃. It tastes sweet and is a substance similar to vitamins.

The content of betaine in beet is high. At present, there are mainly water extraction, alcohol extraction and chemical synthesis. The physiological functions of betaine on Suckling pigs include methyl transference, osmotic pressure regulation, food inducement, anti-stress, body fat redistribution and vitamin stabilization.

For Suckling pigs, betaine could improve the growth performance, and 600mg/kg betaine had the best effect. 800mg/kg betaine can increase the digestibility of dry matter and crude protein, increase the activity of proteolytic enzyme, increase lean meat rate, decrease diarrhea rate, decrease urea nitrogen and increase serum total iron binding ability of piglets. Adding betaine can increase the weight gain and decrease the feed/gain of Suckling pigs. By improving the content of longissimus dorsi muscle and crude fat of Suckling pigs, the pork quality can be improved by increasing redness, reducing yellowness, cooking loss and shear force, and improving marbling score. Betaine can increase lean meat percentage and muscle fat content, decrease fat percentage and backfat thickness of Suckling pigs, and improve carcass quality. The reason for the improvement of intramuscular fatty acid level by betaine may be that betaine promotes fatty acid uptake more than oxidation.