The objective of this present study was to investigate the effect of feeding fermented mixture of papaya leaf and seed meal (FERM) on the physical and chemical characteristics of meats of the Indonesian indigenous crossbred chicken (IICC). The study was carried out with 300 day-old IICC. The chicks were randomly distributed to five treatment groups, i.e., CONT (control diet based on corn-soybean- diet), FERMA (diet containing 1% FERM), FERMB (2.5% FERM), FERMC (5% FERM) and FERMD (7.5% FERM). Each treatment group consisted of 6 replicates with 10 IICC in each. At week 8, one chick from each replicate was randomly taken and slaughtered. After being de-feathered and eviscerated, samples from breast and thigh meats were obtained. Results showed that the increased levels of FERM was followed by the increased (P<0.05) pH values, moisture and crude protein content of breast meats of the IICC. Dietary incorporation of FERM especially at the level of 2.5% increased (P<0.05) the content of fat in the breast meat of IICC, while further increased levels of FERM did not alter (P>0.05) the fat content of the IICC breast meat. Dietary treatment did not have any effect (P>0.05) on the lightness (L*) values of breast meat of the IICC. The redness (a*) values were higher (P<0.05) in FERMD breast meat than other. FERM diet resulted in lower (P<0.05) yellowness (b*) values in the IICC breast meat. The pH values and moisture content of thigh meat increased (P<0.05) with the increased level of FERM. The WHC decreased (P<0.05) with the elevated levels of FERM in the diets. There was an increase (P<0.05) in crude protein concentration in FERMA as compared to the other meats. Crude fat and ash concentrations in thigh meat were affected (P<0.05) by the treatments. Dietary treatments had no impact (P>0.05) on L* values of thigh meats. Feeding FERM at 7.5% from diets increased (P<0.05) and decreased (P<0.05) the redness and yellowness of meats. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of FERM especially at the level of 7.5% from diets improved the physical and chemical characteristics of the IICC meats.
Trophic relations between macroinvertebrates in the Vlasina river (Serbia)