Effects of Copper Sulfate and Arginine Supplements on Performance and Carcass Traits in Broiler Chickens Fed with Canola Meal Based Diet

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of copper (Cu) sulfate (0, 125 and 250 mg/kg), arginine (Arg) supplements (0, 0.1 and 0.2%) and glucosinolate content on performance and carcass traits in broiler chickens fed with canola meal based diet. During a three-week experimental period (22-42 d), 405 male broilers were used in completely randomized design with a 3 × 3 factorial experiment. Average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were significantly affected (P<0.05) by 250 mg/kg copper treatment. Canola meal treatments with Cu (P<0.01) and addition of 0.2% Arg (P<0.05) significantly increased the proportion of breast muscle. Also, the relative thigh weight was significantly affected by 250 mg/kg copper treatment and 0.2% arginine supplementation (P<0.05). The 0.2% Arg supplementation significantly decreased the pro-portion of abdominal fat (P<0.01), lung weight (P<0.05) and conversely increased the proportion of duode-num (P<0.05) and jejunum (P<0.01). Cecal relative weight was the lowest (P<0.05) in broilers fed diets based on canola meal treated with 250 mg/kg Cu. In conclusion, the results of this study show that treat-ments of canola meal with copper sulfate could alleviate adverse effects of glucosinolate on broilers per-formance. Moreover, these findings suggest that addition of 0.2% Arg able to change energy partitioning toward protein deposition and reduced abdominal fat pads.