Effects of L-Carnitine administration on growth performance, carcass traits, serum lipids and abdominal fatty acid compositions of geese

The study was conducted to determine the effect of L-carnitine chlorhydrate administration via drinking water on growth performance, carcass traits, serum lipids and fatty acids composition of abdominal fat in geese. One hundred, one day old Turkish native geese chicks were divided into 2 groups, containing 50 chicks, receiving the same diets (starter diet for 6 weeks and grower diet for 6 weeks), and 0 and 100 mg/l carnitine chlorhydrate (0 and 100 mg/l) was given via drinking water during 12 weeks. At the end of the study, 30 geese were randomly selected from each group for determination of slaughter traits, and blood and abdominal fat samples were also taken. L-carnitine administration did not affect live weight, feed consumption but weakly affected feed conversion efficiency. Except for the liver weight, carcass traits were similar between the groups. Liver percentage to the carcass weight was significantly higher in carnitine group than in control group (P