Breast meat quality of broilers fed with Californian earthworm meal and fresh earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus)

Abstract

The goal of the work was to investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of the meat of broilers fed with mixtures in which fishmeal had been replaced with fresh earthworms and worm meal. The experiment was carried out on 100 day-old chickens of both sexes, Hybro provenance, divided into 4 groups, 25 broilers each. The experiment lasted for 42 days and had three phases: the first lasted for 3 weeks, the second 2 weeks and the third 1 week. The control group of broilers were fed with complete feed for chickens for fattening, of standard fiber and chemical composition, while I and II experimental groups were fed with mixture in which fishmeal had been replaced by worm meal in an amount of 50 and 100 %, and III experimental group obtained a mixture with no fishmeal, but fresh, chopped earthworms ad libitum instead, from the 1st day to the end of the experiment. At the end of the experiment, on the 42nd day, the broilers were transported to a slaughterhouse. After individual weighing they were slaughtered, and primary processing and cooling of the carcasses were performed. Then the carcasses were cut up to the main parts and the breast samples were taken for examining the physical and sensory properties of the meat. The results of the investigation have shown that there was no difference in physical properties (colour, pH) of the breast meat (p>0.05) among the experimental groups. The breast meat sample ranking has shown that the E-II group samples were rated as the most acceptable while the least acceptable were the meat samples of the control group as well as of the group fed with food in which fishmeal was completely replaced with fresh earthworms.