Effect of chitosan and L-carnitine supplementation on carcass characteristics of broiler chicken

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to compare the effect of chitosan and L-carnitine supplementation on carcass characteristics of broiler chicken. A total of 150, day-old Vencobb 430Y broiler chicks were randomly selected and divided into three treatments with five replicates of ten birds each. The dietary treatment groups were as follows: T1 -standard broiler ration (SBR) formulated as per BIS (2007); T2–SBR supplemented with chitosan at 30 g/kg diet; T3–SBR supplemented with L-carnitine at 0.05 g/kg diet. The results indicated that the mean abdominal fat pad per cent of broilers in chitosan supplemented group (T2) was significantly (p<0.01) lower than L-carnitine supplemented group (T3) and both were statistically lower than the control group. However, there was no significant difference in other carcass characteristics among treatment groups except the heart yield percentage. The mean heart yield per cent of broilers showed a significantly (p<0.05) lower value in broilers fed with chitosan as compared to the other treatment groups. The results obtained from the study indicated that supplementation of chitosan and L-carnitine caused a significant reduction in the abdominal fat pad per cent without any adverse effects on growth performance as well as carcass characteristics of broiler chicken.

Keywords

• chitosan
• l-carnitine
• abdominal fat pad per cent