Dietary Cinnamon Bark Affects Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Breast Meat Quality in Broiler Infected with Eimeria tenella Oocysts

A total of 150 broiler chicks were used to determine the impact of dietary cinnamon bark powder (CBP; Cinnamomum verum) on breast meat quality, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of birds under coccidiosis, as one of the protozoan parasitic diseases. A total of 5 replicates of birds received 1 of the following 6 groups for 34 days: control groups (1 and 2) received a basal diet without the addition of CBP or salinomycin; group 3 received a basal diet with 0.066 g salinomycin; groups 4–6 were given a basal diet supplemented with 2, 4, and 6 g CBP/kg feed, respectively. On day 21, 4 × 104/100 µL of Eimeria tenella oocysts/bird were challenged, except for the negative control (NC). At the end of the experimental trial, five birds/group were sampled for carcass characteristics and breast attributes. Overall, emeriosis negatively affects slaughter body mass, carcass yield, and the majority of carcass characteristics in birds, and cinnamon can mitigate these effects. Cinnamon groups, particularly at the 2 g level, alleviated the negative effect on performance caused by coccidia infestation to the same or greater extent as the negative control and salinomycin treatment groups. Furthermore, when compared with the other experimental groups, the addition of cinnamon improved some physicochemical properties with some affecting meat quality, such as decreasing MFI and increasing toughness in cinnamon-treated groups. In summary, it can be concluded that CBP can enhance the shelf life, carcass, and quality of birds’ meat by maximizing the productive performance efficiency and breast meat productivity of birds under coccidiosis infestation. Further research is required to investigate the use of cinnamon to optimize the quality of meat and the productivity of both healthy and diseased broilers.

Restricted Feeding Regimens Improve White Striping Associated Muscular Defects In Broiler Chickens

Background: Ad libitum (AD) feeding is crucial to profitable commercial broiler chicken production. However, it partly disrupts muscle development, causing myopathies like white striping in broilers’ breast meat. For this reason, this study investigated the impacts of intermittent feeding (IF) and fasting strategies as potential alternatives to AD feeding. A total of 384 one-day-old broilers were randomly allotted into 4 groups - ad libitum, 1h-IF group (4 times/day, 1 hour each time), 1.5h-IF (4 times/day, 1.5hrs each time), and acute fasting (1-day acute fasting, 6-days free access to feed). Feed intake, weight gain, muscle structure, differential genes, and protein expressions were assessed in the broiler breast muscles. Results: IF and fasting significantly reduced ectopic fat deposit and muscle fiber size (p < 0.05). Notably, 1.5h-IF promoted PAX7+ satellite cell proliferation supporting muscle growth and repair activities in fast-growth broiler chickens. Consistently, the restricted regimens downregulated the collagen protein synthesis of skeletal muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligases (TRIM63 and MAFBX) in 42 – days old breast muscle samples (p < 0.05), especially in the 1.5h-IF group. Compared to AD-fed birds, 1.5h-IF and fasting feeding significantly decreased white striping scores in the breast meat muscle (p < 0.05). ConclusionChronic IF or acute fasting improved muscle health of broiler chickens without significant compromise on growth rate and feed efficiency compared to AD feeding. Therefore, this study presents potential feeding frequencies relevant for optimal growth pace while alleviating the occurrence of myopathic pathophysiology in broiler chickens.

Dietary supplementation of Agaricus bisporus stalk meal on growth performance, carcass and organ traits, meat quality, cecum mesophilic aerobic bacteria counts and intestinal histology in broiler chickens

ABSTRACT: Effects of dietary Agaricus bisporus mixture or stalk or cap on growth performance, carcass components and some meat quality parameters, mesophilic aerobic bacterial counts, and intestinal histomorphology in broiler chickens were investigated. Two hundred and forty one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens were divided into 4 experimental groups with 4 replicates, each including 15 birds. Chickens were fed with basal diet (C), mushroom mixture (MM, 10 g stalk+10 g cap/kg diet), mushroom stalk (MS, 20 g/kg diet) and mushroom cap (MC, 20 g/kg diet). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was improved (P < 0.01) by dietary MS while feed intake (FI) decreased (P < 0.01) in all treatment groups compared to control. However, body weight gain (BWG) was decreased (P < 0.01) by MC inclusion. Mushroom supplemented groups had higher (P < 0.05) mesophilic aerobic bacteria in the cecum. MS inclusion increased villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum (P < 0.01) and villus height in the ileum (P < 0.01) and jejunum (P < 0.05). MC increased (P < 0.01) crypt depth in the jejunum. There were no statistical differences among groups for carcass components (P > 0.05). The L* values were decreased (P < 0.01) in thigh meat but increased (P < 0.01) in breast meat by mushroom inclusion. The a* values were decreased (P < 0.01) and b* values were increased (P < 0.05) in both thigh and breast meat with mushroom addition to diet. The obtained results indicated that A. bisporus stalk meal at an inclusion level of 20 g/kg of diet had favourable effects on growth performance with higher feed efficiency, improved intestinal morphology with higher villus height and increased meat quality of broiler chickens.

Effect of adding lemon peels oils to gelatin edible films on some quality characteristics of storage chilled chicken breast meat: تأثير إضافة زيت قشور الليمون لأغلفة الجيلاتين القابلة للأكل في بعض صفات الجودة للحم صدر الدجاج المخزّن بالتبريد

The aim of this investigation is to specific shelf life of storage chilled chicken breast meat by filling it with gelatin-sodium alginate edible films which contain lemon peels essential oil (LPO) at various final concentrations. Lemon peels essential oil was prepared by steam distilling, and gelatin-sodium alginate edible films were prepared, and LPO was added by the following percentages (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 %). These groups were packaged in gelatin-sodium alginate edible films, then preserved at (4±1° C) for 18 days and examined after 0, 3, 7, 11, 14 and 18 days of refrigeration for total count of bacteria, freshness and chemical properties. Freshness analyses included determination of pH value and thiobarbituric acid TBA. Chemical analyses included determination of moisture, ash, fat, and protein content. The samples treated by gelatin-sodium alginate edible films with 2 % LPO had the best quality characteristics during the chilled storage period, thereby samples of chicken breast meat had saved of quality characteristics for 14 days.

Detection of Foreign Materials on Broiler Breast Meat Using a Fusion of Visible Near-Infrared and Short-Wave Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging

Foreign material (FM) found on a poultry product lowers the quality and safety of the product. We developed a fusion method combining two hyperspectral imaging (HSI) modalities in the visible-near infrared (VNIR) range of 400–1000 nm and the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range of 1000–2500 nm for the detection of FMs on the surface of fresh raw broiler breast fillets. Thirty different types of FMs that could be commonly found in poultry processing plants were used as samples and prepared in two different sizes (5 × 5 mm2 and 2 × 2 mm2). The accuracies of the developed Fusion model for detecting 2 × 2 mm2 pieces of polymer, wood, and metal were 95%, 95%, and 81%, respectively, while the detection accuracies of the Fusion model for detecting 5 × 5 mm2 pieces of polymer, wood, and metal were all 100%. The performance of the Fusion model was higher than the VNIR- and SWIR-based detection models by 18% and 5%, respectively, when F1 scores were compared, and by 38% and 5%, when average detection rates were compared. The study results suggested that the fusion of two HSI modalities could detect FMs more effectively than a single HSI modality.

Meat Quality Parameters of Boschveld Indigenous Chickens as Influenced by Dietary Yellow Mealworm Meal

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of yellow mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) meal inclusion in diets of indigenous chickens. A total of 160 mixed-sex indigenous Boschveld chickens were randomly divided into four categories: control soybean meal (SBM) and yellow mealworm with percentage levels of 5, 10 and 15 (TM5, TM10 and TM15, respectively). Five replicate pens per treatment were used, with eight birds per pen/replicate. On day 60, two birds from each replicate were slaughtered and eviscerated. Meat quality parameters were measured out on raw carcass and cooked breast meat. The carcass weight, breast weight and gizzard weight of the control group was higher (p < 0.05) than the treatment group (TM15). The cooking loss was lower (p < 0.05) in the SBM control group but higher in the TM15 group. Colour characteristics of breast meat before cooking was lighter in the TM10 and TM15 group, ranged from 61.7 to 69.3 for L* and was significant (p < 0.05). The TM10 and TM15 groups showed a lighter colour than the SBM and TM5 groups. The breast meat pH taken after slaughter was different (p < 0.05) in TM5 and TM15, with the highest reading (pH 6.0) in the TM5 group. In conclusion, our experiment indicated that dietary Tenebrio molitor in growing Boschveld indigenous chickens’ diets could be considered a promising protein source for Boschveld indigenous chickens.

Effect of Dietary Curcumin Supplementation on Duck Growth Performance, Antioxidant Capacity and Breast Meat Quality

This study aimed at examining the effects of curcumin supplementation on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and meat quality of ducks. To investigate these effects, 600 healthy ducks were randomly assigned to four treatment groups with 10 replicates pens, and each pen contained 15 ducks. Ducks were fed a diet containing curcumin at levels of 0, 300, 400, and 500 mg kg−1 in different groups. The results demonstrated that curcumin supplementation is beneficial to the growth performance (p < 0.05) of ducks and antioxidant capacity (p < 0.05) of duck meat. In addition, dietary curcumin raised the meat quality of ducks, improving the meat color, increasing water-holding capacity, and inhibiting lipid and protein oxidation. In conclusion, the present study provides important insights into both the nutrient and qualities of ducks, finding that a dietary inclusion of 400–500 mg/kg of curcumin (kg−1) has the greatest effect.

Meat yield characteristics of different upgraded dwarf chicken under intensive management condition

The study was conducted with attempts to determine the effects of autosomal dwarf (adw) gene introgression from Indigenous dwarf chicken (IDC) to White Leghorn (WLH) and Fayoumi (Fay) on growth and meat yield characteristics. Experiment was carried out at the Poultry Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh for a period of 28 months from March 2013 to June 2015 under intensive management condition. In this study, the di-allele crossing between WLH, Fay and IDC produced 4 up-graded chickens viz. IDC♂ × WLH♀, WLH♂ × IDC♀, IDC♂ × Fay♀ and Fay♂ × IDC♀. The up-graded F1 generations were mated intersex to access their productivity. The up-graded F1 generations were mated intersex to access their productivity. Pre-slaughter live weight of birds significantly (P<0.001) varied by genotype, sex and genotype × sex interaction. Percentage of thigh meat, drumstick meat, dark and total meat weights was significantly influenced by genotype. Although meat yield parameters of male birds in relation to live weight were found higher than their female birds, some parameters like breast meat, liver, giblet and total meat yield were found higher in female birds than that of male birds of all genotypes. However, meat yield parameters like percentage of thigh, drumstick and total meat yield were the highest in IDC♂ × Fay♀ and Fay♂ × IDC♀ and the lowest in IDC♂ × WLH♀. From the above findings, Fayoumi mediated dwarf genotypes showed better meat yield characteristics than Leghorn mediated dwarf genotypes.

Quality of spent hen sausages incorporated with fresh ginger extract

The experiment was conducted to find out the effect of ginger extract on the sensory, physicochemical and biochemical properties of spent hen sausages. For this purpose, sausages were prepared into four different groups. They were as follows: broiler breast meat sausage without ginger extract, spent hen breast meat sausage without ginger extract, spent hen breast meat sausage with 2% ginger extract and spent hen breast meat sausage with 4% ginger extract. All parameters were analyzed at 0, 15th and 30th days of storage time. The proximate compositions of different sausage batters are analyzed and highly significant differences were found in pH, dry matter (DM)%, crude protein (CP)% and ether extract (EE)%, while no significant differences were found in cooking loss (%) and Ash (%) of sausage batter. While analyzing the different types of sausages, DM, CP and EE content of all treatments differ significantly (p<0.01). In contrast, DM and CP content increased significantly (p<0.01) with the advancement of different days of intervals. The FFA, POV and TBARS values were increased significantly (p<0.01) with prolonging the storage time. Significant differences were found among the sausages for its surface color. Flavor and overall acceptability were found significantly higher in broiler breast meat sausage and spent hen breast meat sausage with 2% ginger extract. Juiciness and tenderness were higher in broiler breast meat sausage without ginger extract. Worst results in all sensory parameters were found in spent hen breast meat sausage without ginger extract and spent hen breast meat sausages incorporated with 4% ginger extract. It might be concluded that addition of ginger extract at 2% level increased the overall acceptability of spent hen breast meat sausages to that of broiler breast meat sausages.