effect of encapsulated choline chloride on performance, carcass characteristics and some blood parameters in broiler chicks

This study examined the effects of various levels of dietary encapsulatedcholine chloride (ecc) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, serumand liver lipids content in ross 308 broilers. a total of 480 day-old broilerswere assigned to eight dietary treatments with six replicates of 10 birds eachfrom 1 to 21 days of age. eight experimental diets were provided from a basalnon-added choline chloride diet as follow: six diets were made by the additionof ecc at the rate of 300, 600, 900, 1200, 1500 and 1800 mg/kg and a negativeand a positive control diet with zero and 1500 mg/kg commercial cholinechloride (ccc), respectively. the body weight gain, feed intake, cholinechloride (cc) intake, live body weight, as well as carcass, breast muscle, thighmuscle, and liver weights were linearly (p < 0.05) related to the dietary levelsof ecc. dietary supplementation of ecc at the levels of 1200 and 1500 mg/kgdecreased (p = 0.014) liver total lipid percentage, compared to those fed thenegative control diet. the birds fed diets containing 900 and 1200 mg ecc/kghad lower liver triglyceride concentration than those fed negative control diet(p = 0.001). furthermore, supplemented ecc at the levels of 1200 and 1800mg/kg, led to an increase (p = 0.006) in the concentration of phospholipid inthe liver. the ecc requirements were estimated at 1335.1, 1371.6 and 1353.3mg/kg of diet for maximizing body weight gain, carcass weight, and breastweight, respectively (p < 0.001). it is concluded that the ecc may be used asan alternative to cc in the diet at the rate of 1500 mg/kg with no adverse effecton productive performance, breast and thigh muscle weight, and liver fatcontent in broilers.