EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH L-CARNITINE ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF JAPANESE QUAILS

Abstract

This study has been conducted on one day old Japanese quail to determine the Effect of L-carnitine dietary supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics (hot carcass weights and yields), visceral organ masses (heart, liver, gizzard, and abdominal fat) and some biochemical parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, Plasma total protein, albumin, glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT)and uric acid concentrations) in Japanese quails with using four levels of L-carnitine.they were divided into five equalgroups the. first group fed on basal diet(without L-carnitine) act as control, second group fed on basal diet plus50mg L-carnitine /kg diet, third group fed on basal diet plus 100mg L-carnitine /kg diet, fourth group fed on basal diet plus 150mg L-carnitine /kg diet and fifth group. fed on basal diet plus 200mg L-carnitine /kg diet The obtained results revealed that final live body weight, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were improved significantly by using L-carnitine. The statical analysis of the obtained data showed that no significant difference between all groups in dressing percentage. However there were significant increase in breast muscle. with significant decrease in abdominal fat and heart weight in all treated groups when compared with control one. The present data revealed that serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, cholesterol LDL, glucose and albumin werw reduced significantly while serum total Protein, alanineaminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were significantly increased.