Studying the effect of different levels of L-carnitine on the performance and carcass characteristics of female broiler chickens up to seven days of age

ALIreza gharagozloo¹ Javad Nasr² Farshid Khairy³

1) PhD in Poultry Nutrition, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Kord Branch
2) Professor, Islamic Azad University, Saveh Branch
3) Professor, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Kord Branch

IOI Code : ABFF-ABDEGG
Publication : 9th International Congress of Developing Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism of Iran(9icsda.ir)
Abstract :
    Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of L-carnitine (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg of diet containing 3% soybean oil) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of female Ross 308 broiler chickens. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four treatments and three replications for each treatment and each replication including 20 broiler chickens, totaling 240 chickens. At the end of the seventh day, performance indices including live weight as well as carcass characteristics including carcass weight, breast, intestine, yolk sac, liver, gizzard, forestomach and heart were evaluated. The results showed that increasing levels of L-carnitine in the diet during the first seven days significantly decreased live weight, carcass weight, breast, intestine and yolk sac of the chickens (P<0.05). However, the use of L-carnitine had no significant effect on the weight of liver, gizzard, forestomach and heart (P>0.05) and no changes in heart weight were observed among treatments. Based on the findings of this study, adding L-carnitine to the initial diet of broiler chickens can lead to a decrease in some weight indices related to the carcass, while it does not have a significant effect on the weight of internal organs. These results can be used in optimizing nutrition and growth management of broiler chickens in the early stages of rearing. Keywords: L-carnitine, broiler chicken, growth performance, carcass characteristics, relative organ weight, early rearing period

Keywords : l carnitine broiler chicken growth performance carcass characteristics relative organ weight early rearing period