The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of natural feed additives, namely bee pollen extract, propolis extract and probiotic preparation, on technological properties of meat in order to evaluate the meat quality of Ross 308 broiler chickens.  The feeding of chickens (180 pcs) lasted for a period of 42 days. The experiment was carried out without segregation between the genders. The chickens were randomly divided into 4 groups. The control group was fed a basal diet, whereas the other three groups were fed diets supplemented with natural additives, i.e. bee pollen extract at level of 400 mg.kg-1 of feed mixture, propolis extract at level of 400 mg.kg-1 of feed mixture, and probiotic preparation based on Lactobacillus fermentum (1.109 CFU per 1 g of bearing medium) in an amount of 3.3 g added to water (for 30 pcs chickens until 21 days of age, for 20 pcs chickens from 22nd to 42nd day of age) given to group E1, group E2 and group E3, respectively. The feed mixtures were produced without any antibiotic preparations and coccidiostatics. During the whole period of experiment, the broiler chickens had ad libitum access to feed and water. The following technological properties were examined: cooling loss (after 24 h of storage at 4 °C), freezing loss (after 3 months of storage at -18 °C), roasting loss (performed on roasted meat that was stored at -18 °C for 3 months before thawing), colour parameters based on CIELab system (the L*, a*, b* values of raw breast and thigh muscle), and tenderness (as shear force of roasted breast and thigh muscle). We have made a finding, that the examined additives had only little impact on meat quality in most of the investigated parameters, except the significant increase (p ≤0.05) in redness (a*) values and the slight decrease in roasting loss and shear force determination after propolis extract supplementation. Therefore, it may be inferred that propolis extract has been shown as the most appropriate feed additive among the applied supplements.

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The aim of the study was to assess the effect of supplying propolis extract separately and propolis extract together with probiotics based on Lactobacillus fermentum on fatty acids (FA) composition of the most valuable parts of chicken carcass. Diets enriched with 400 mg propolis extract per 1 kg of feed mixture and 400 mg propolis extract per 1 kg of feed mixture plus 3.3 g probiotic preparation added to drinking water (E1 and E2 groups, respectively) were given to broiler chickens throughout a 42-d growth period. After slaughter, the FA profiles of breast and thigh samples were determined. Both supplemented diets decreased the total amount of saturated FA (SFA), mainly because of the myristic (C14:0) and stearic (C18:0) acid contents in both breast and thigh muscles. However, a significant decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in SFA was confirmed only in thigh muscle. Supplementation with propolis together with probiotics (E2) significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) monounsaturated FA (MUFA) contents in breast muscle. Particularly oleic acid (C18:1 cis) contributed to an overall increase in MUFA. A rise (P ≤ 0.05) in polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) in breast muscle was, however, associated with the dietary supplementation of propolis extract separately (E1). A similar trend (P  0.05) for MUFA and PUFA levels was also observed in thigh muscle. Of all PUFAs detected in breast and thigh muscles, linoleic acid (C18:2 cis) was found at the highest levels. Its levels varied from 11.34 to 12.02 g*100 g -1 and from 11.05 to 11.82 g*100 g -1 in breast and thigh muscles, respectively. The highest level (P ≤ 0.05) of linoleic acid was observed in group E1. Comparing breast with thigh muscle, the breast was demonstrated to contain more SFA and PUFA, but less MUFA proportions. Although the n-3 PUFA:n-6 PUFA ratio was similar among the treatments in both breast and thigh muscles, n-6 PUFA:n-3 PUFA ratio has been showed to be a significantly lower (P ≤ 0.05) in thigh muscle, 1179Journal , 17(4), p.1179-1193 DOI: 10.5513/JCEA01/17.4.1828 with the lowest ratio found in E2 group. Differences in n-6 PUFA:n-3 PUFA ratio in breast were, however, not significant (P  0.05) between the treatments. On the whole, the present study indicated that propolis applied through the feed either separately or together with probiotics applied through the water had favourable effect on fatty acids profile in the most valuable parts of chicken carcass and could be thus added to diets for broiler chickens.of Central European Agriculture, 2016, 17(4), p.1179-1193 1179 Journal of Central European AgricultureKeywords: breast, broiler chicken, fatty acid, probiotic, propolis, thigh Abstrakt Cieľom štúdie bolo posúdiť vplyv propolisového extraktu aplikovaného samostatne alebo v kombinácii s probiotikom na báze Lactobacillus fermentum na obsah mastných kyselín v najcennejších častiach jatočného tela kurčiat. Počas 42 dní výkrmu bol kurčatám podávaný propolisový extrakt v množstve 400 mg na 1 kg kŕmnej zmesi (skupina E1) a propolisový extrakt v množstve 400 mg na 1 kg kŕmne...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of different feed additives (bee pollen extract, propolis extract, and probiotic) on meat quality of broiler chickens. A total of 180 one day-old broiler chicks of mixed sex (Ross 308) were randomly divided into 3 groups. Dietary treatments were as follows: basal diet, free of supplements (control group; C); basal diet plus 400 mg bee pollen extract per 1 kg of feed mixtures and 3.3 g probiotic preparation added to drinking water (group E1); basal diet plus 400 mg propolis extract per 1 kg of feed mixtures and 3.3 g probiotic preparation added to drinking water (group E2). In the experiment, the probiotic preparation based on Lactobacillus fermentum (1.10 9 CFU.g -1 of bearing medium) was used. Fattening period lasted for 42 days. Feed mixtures were produced without any antibiotic preparations and coccidiostatics. Meat quality was evaluated by following technological properties: cooling, freezing and roasting loss; colour parameters based on CIELab system; and shear force. Both dietary supplementations led to decrease in cooling (p ≤0.05) and freezing (p ≥0.05) losses compared with control. On the contrary, the supplemented diet tended to increase roasting losses (p ≤0.05) and shear force values in thigh muscle (p ≤0.05). Significantly higher L* values (p ≤0.05) in breast and thigh muscles, as well as the b* values in thigh muscle, were found when broiler chickens were fed the supplements, especially bee pollen extract and probiotics. In addition, the supplements improve redness (a*) of meat. The redness of breast muscle appeared to be the most affected (p ≥0.05) by propolis extract plus probiotics supplementation, while thigh muscle had the highest value (p ≤0.05) in bee pollen extract plus probiotics supplemented group. These findings suggested that the supplements have a beneficial effect on quality of chicken meat due to positive changes in most of quality indicators investigated in the study.

Keywords: dry cured meat, low-molecular weight protein, free amino acid, biogenic amine, methods of analyse