Investigation of the carcass characteristics, meat quality and blood parameters of male Japanese quail were fed with dietary supplementation of L- carnitine

To determine the effect of different levels of L-carnitine on meat quality, carcass characteristics and blood parameters of male Japanese quail, an experiment was carried out using 240 quail in a completely randomized design with four levels of L-carnitine (0, 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg). Four replicates with 15 quails were allocated to each experimental treatment and birds were reared for 35 days. At the end of experiment, two birds from each experimental unit were randomly selected and after slaughter and separation of carcasses, thigh and breast samples were transferred to the chiller to asses, meat quality parameters. The results showed that, adding of L-carnitine supplementation (125 mg/kg) significantly reduced the amount of abdominal fat (p<0.05), while using of L-carnitine had not effect on other carcass characteristics. The quails were fed with ration containing L-carnitine supplementation, had lower triglyceride and VLDL in comparison with control group (p<0.05). The effect of various storage times on the amount of malondialdehyde was significant (p<0.05). So that, with increment of storage times, increased the amount of malondialdehyde. The lowest amount of malondialdehyde was observed after slaughter and the highest amount of malondialdehyde was observed after storage for 10 days. The amounts of malondialdehyde in thigh samples were affected by L-carnitine. 125 mg/kg L-carnitine significantly reduced the amount of crude fat and malondialdehyde in thigh samples. Therefore, it can be concluded that the supplementation of diet with L-carnitine has positive effects on blood triglyceride and meat quality in Japanese quail.