The effects of dietary L-arginine on some parameters of meat quality, intestine histology and immune system of 46-d old broiler chickens

Improving in quantity and quality of meat production concomitant with augmenting in immune system are of great importance for both consumers and producers.
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of dietary L-arginine supplementation on meat quality, intestine histology and immune system of female Ross 307 broiler chickens.
A total of 192 day old chicks were fed with 4 dietary treatments and 4 replicates by employing a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments included 100%, 153%, 168% and 183% of digestible arginine, based on the Ross catalogue recommendation, and were fed from day 1 to 46 of age. At day 46 of experiment, three chickens per replicate were randomly selected and euthanized in order to determine meat quality, immune system tissues’ weight and weight, length and histology of small intestine.
The results showed that increasing arginine content of the diet had a significant increasing effect (P According to the results, consumption of 168% digestible arginine, based on the Ross catalogue recommendation, can improve meat quality, digestive capacity of small intestine, and immunity.