Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine effects of dietary supplementation with chitosanoligosaccharides (COS) and L-carnitine, individually or dually, on growth performance, carcass traits and some blood serum parameters in quails. A total of 192, four days old, Japanese quail chicks were allotted four groups, each of which included four replicates (12 birds per replicate). The groups received the same basal diet supplemented with 0 (Control), 150mg/kg chitosanoligosaccharides (COS), 150mg/kg L-carnitine (Carnitine), and 150 mg/kg chitosanoligosaccharides+150 mg/kg L-carnitine (COS+Car.) during the starter (1 to 21 days) and a grower (22 to 42 days) period. The feeding trial shoved that COS, L-carnitine and COS+L-carnitine had no significant effect on live weight, live weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion. Supplementation with COS+L-carnitine induced higher leg ratio from than that of the Control. There were no differences on serum albumin, total protein, glucose and total cholesterol concentrations. It is concluded that due to the obtained higher leg ratio from COS+Car. group, after analysis of the profit and loss, if is economically profitable, chitosanoligosaccharides+L-carnitine could be added quail diets.
Highlights
Antibiotics, as growth promoters and therapeutic medicines to decrease the sensitivity to infectious diseases, have been widely used in animal production for many years (Barton, 2000)
The aim of the present study was determine the effects of COS and L-carnitine supplementation individually or dually to the Japanese quail diets on growth performance, carcass yield traits and some blood parameters
No difference in live weight, live weight gain, average feed intake and feed conversion were observed in quails fed with COS or L-carnitine, individually or dually supplemented diets at the starter period and at the grower period, as well as the overall experiment (Table 2)
Summary
Antibiotics, as growth promoters and therapeutic medicines to decrease the sensitivity to infectious diseases, have been widely used in animal production for many years (Barton, 2000). After the banning of the use of antibiotics, further studies have increased on the use of natural feed additives instead of antibiotics. In this context, extensive studies have been done on chitosan and chitosanoligosaccharides (COS), which are accepted as a prebiotic. The COS is produced from chitin or chitosan by chemically or enzymatic decomposition methods (Li et al, 2007). It has a far lower molecular weight, higher solubility and activity than chitosan (Jeon et al, 2000; Kim and Rajapakse, 2005)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
