Abstract

THE EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTARY DIETARY L-CARNITINE ON METABOLIC PROFILE OF BLOOD IN IRAQI DRAKES

*Hazim J. Al-Daraji, Anmar O. Tahir

ABSTRACT

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of L-carnitine added to drake diets on some blood biochemical parameters. For that, 48 thirty weeks old Iraqi drakes were divided into 4 equal groups according to the L-carnitine contents added to the diet for 12 weeks (0 mg / kg of diet in control group; T1, 50, 100 and 150 mg / kg diet in the treatment groups T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Blood biochemical traits were determined fortnightly. Blood serum constituents included in this study were glucose, total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides, total lipids, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL). The L-carnitine treatments (T2, T3 and T4) have induced significant decreases as regards overall means of blood serum concentrations of glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, total lipids, VLDL, HDL and LDL compared to respective control (T1) whereas blood serum concentration of total protein was significantly increased in comparison with control group (T1). These results suggest that dietary L-carnitine supplementation positively regulate metabolic profile of blood. Therefore, these results are important not only from the scientific aspect; they are also of practical importance and can be used to formulate diets for breeding ducks in order to enhance physiological status of these birds.

Keywords: Carnitine, blood biochemical traits, Iraqi drakes.