Abstract
Abstract. An experiment was designed to investigate the effects of soybean, sunflower oil and dietary L-carnitine supplementation on growth performance, some blood biochemical parameters and antibody titer against Newcastle disease of broiler chicks. A 5-week feeding trial, 240 1-day old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments as a 3 × 2 factorial experimental design where three sources of dietary oil contained soybean, sunflower and soybean plus sunflower oil with and without 120 mg kg−1 of L-carnitine supplementation in the diet. Results showed that soybean oil with L-carnitine significantly improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of broiler chicks in the grower and total period of rearing (p < 0.05). L-carnitine supplementation significantly increased total protein, globulin, cholesterol, HDL and LDL (high- and low-density lipoprotein) of blood serum in broiler chicks (p < 0.05). L-carnitine supplementation increased antibody titer against Newcastle disease of chicks and the highest levels were observed in those with the supplement of L-carnitine in the soybean oil dietary treatment. Results of this experiment showed that the growth performance and blood biochemical responses of broiler chicks to dietary supplementation with L-carnitine in dietary oil source and soybean oil, in comparison to sunflower oil, is the better plant oil for growth and immunological performance of broiler chicks.
Highlights
Plant oils have commonly been used as energy sources in diets of broiler chicks
Feed intake of chicks was significantly affected by oil sources (p < 0.05) and sunflower oil in the starter period with an increased feed intake, but a mix of sunflower oil and soybean oil reduced it in the grower period (Table 3)
The best body weight gain and feed conversion ratio was seen in chicks which were fed with soybean oil with the L-carnitine supplement (Table 3)
Summary
Plant oils have commonly been used as energy sources in diets of broiler chicks. The chemical structures of fats and oils are extremely variable and the metabolizability and response of the animal to type of oil may be affected by its source (Sanz et al, 2000). The most important differences between all kinds of oils and fat sources are related to their fatty acid compositions. Oxidation and energy production of various fatty acids are different and related to the number of carbon and double bonds in a carbon chain of fatty acids (unsaturated degree).The major site of fatty acid oxidation in animal cells is the mitochondria and L-carnitine is required for the transfer of long-chain fatty acids from the cytosol to the mitochondrial matrix during lipid catabolism (β-oxidation); it plays a vital role in fat combus-
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