Effects of L-carnitine with different dietary fat sources on performance and some blood metabolites of broiler chickens

Present study was conducted to investigate the effects of L-carnitine and dietary fat source (Vegetable oil, animal fat and mixture of Vegetable and animal fats (50:50%)) on performance and some blood parameters of broiler chickens. Two hundred and forty one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) in 6 treatments with 4 replicates and 10 birds in each replicate were used in this experiment. Dietary treatments consisted of: 1) basal diet with 5% Vegetable oil (T1); 2) basal diet with 5% Vegetable oil + 300 mg/kg L-carnitine (T2); 3) basal diet with 5% animal fat (T3); 4) basal diet with 5% animal fat + 300 mg/kg L-carnitine (T4); 5) basal diet with a mixture of vegetable and animal fats (with the same amount of 2.5 percent) without L-carnitine (T5); 6) basal diet with a mixture of vegetable and animal fats (with the same amount of 2.5 percent) supplemented + 300 mg/kg L-carnitine. At the end of experiment (42 day) blood samples were taken from one bird of each replicate in different groups. The serum samples were analyzed for some blood parameters. The result showed that used diet with L-carnitine had a significant effect on body weight gain in growth and whole period (P<0.05). Adding L-carnitine and animal fat in diet had a significant effect on feed intake and feed conversion ratio (P<0.05). Amount of blood glucose and HDL levels hadn’t significant difference in broilers (P>0.05), and used L-carnitine in diet significantly reduced blood cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and VLDL (P<0.05).