L-carnitine improves : Part 3
Table 2. The effect of added L-carnitine on ostrich egg production (%), egg weight (g/month) and defective eggshells (%) over the trial period
Within columns, means followed by different letters are significantly different at P = 0.05
|
| Mar. | Apr. | May | June | July | Aug. | Sept.
| Whole period | ||
Egg production (%) |
| ||||||||||
| L1 (0 mg/kg) | 7.93b | 9.83b | 13.22b | 8.54b | 9.35b | 9.19b | 9.67b | 9.68b | ||
| L2 (250 mg/kg) | 10ab | 14.67a | 16.61ab | 14.51a | 10b | 13.38ab | 11.45b | 12.95ab | ||
| L3 (500 mg/kg) | 14.13a | 17.09a | 20.96a | 17.09a | 14.51a | 18.22a | 17.90a | 17.13a | ||
| s.e.m. | 1.41 | 1.54 | 1.54 | 0.96 | 1.34 | 1.84 | 1.95 | 1.08 | ||
Egg weight (g/month) |
| ||||||||||
| L1 (0 mg/kg) | 1606.8 | 1614.8 | 1634.2 | 1640 | 1619.6 | 1625.2 | 1621 | 1628.49 | ||
| L2 (250 mg/kg) | 1607.8 | 1619.8 | 1651 | 1649.4 | 1629.2 | 1646.4 | 1627.8 | 1632.37 | ||
| L3 (500 mg/kg) | 1618.4 | 1637 | 1675.8 | 1666.6 | 1630.4 | 1649.4 | 1636.4 | 1640.14 | ||
| s.e.m. | 54.21 | 55.61 | 57.68 | 66.97 | 58.11 | 52.61 | 52.44 | 54.72 | ||
Defective eggshells (%) |
| ||||||||||
| L1 (0 mg/kg) | 7.89 | 4.34 | 4.46 | 5.54 | 5.37 | 7.06 | 11.94 | 6.65 | ||
| L2 (250 mg/kg) | 9.25 | 8.72 | 4.77 | 7.49 | 8.36 | 8.21 | 13.62 | 8.63 | ||
| L3 (500 mg/kg) | 13 | 9.48 | 6.79 | 9.17 | 13.67 | 9.21 | 13.86 | 10.74 | ||
| s.e.m. | 2.87 | 2.86 | 1.64 | 1.82 | 2.81 | 2.63 | 5.16 | 1.14 | ||
breeders started egg production sooner and produced more eggs than the untreated
breeders. The positive effects of supplemental L-carnitine on egg production in the present
study support the finding reported by Davis et al. (1997). These authors also found that the
correction of the L-carnitine deficiencies has a secondary stimulatory effect on steroid
metabolism, especially the sex steroids. However, this observation requires further work in
the future.