Effects of Dietary Acetyl-L-Carnitine on Meat Quality and Lipid Metabolism in Arbor Acres Broilers (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) is an acetylated form of L-carnitine which is derived from lysine and methionine. The major metabolic role of L-carnitine appears to be the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria for P-oxidation (Coulter, 1995). L-Carnitine supplementation increased weight gain, reduced carcass fat and improved feed conversion in weaning pigs (Weeden et al., 1990) and broiler chickens (Lettner et al., 1992; Rabie et al., 1997a; Rabie et al., 1997b). In addition, Rabie et al. (1997a) reported that supplementing 50 mg L-carnitine/ kg diet to broiler chickens increased breast muscle and leg meat yields and content of fat in breast muscle (p0.05).