Carcass characteristics and meat quality assessment in different quail lines fed on canola seed supplemented diets

Abstract

The effect of dietary supplementation with canola seed on carcass and meat quality characteristics in three quail lines was studied. Ninety quails aged 4-weeks were selected from three lines (white, black and brown) and randomly allocated to 3 feeding groups. One group was fed a basal diet as control, while the other two groups were fed on basal diet with 1 or 3% canola seed supplementation. Quails were slaughtered at 10 weeks of age. At 24 h postmortem, breast and thigh meat samples were separated; vacuum packaged and stored at -40°C until meat quality analyses. Results showed that carcass characteristics did not differ (P>0.05) between dietary treatments. However, the inclusion of canola seed increased (P<0.05) the concentration of total omega-3 fatty acid in meat and decreased widely the omega-6: omega-3 ratio compared to the control diet. Feeding 3% canola seeds decreased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the breast and thigh muscles of quails at day 5 of post-mortem. Regardless of dietary treatments, no carcass and meat quality characteristics except carcass weight differed between 3 quail lines. Brown quails exhibited significantly higher (P<0.05) carcass weight than white and black ones. These results indicate that feeding canola seed might modify meat fatty acid profile with better shelf life during postmortem aging. Likewise, due to high carcass weight, brown quail lines may be preferred for meat production purposes.

Dietary supplementation with mushroom powder (Agaricus bisporus) on performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and bone biomechanical properties of quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

“…The importance of Japanese quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) production has increased in recent years due to its easy handling, short life cycle, and small size (Sarmiento-García et al, 2023a ). In addition, quail meat intake has risen in the last few years in countries mainly in Europe and Latin American countries (Vargas-Sánchez et al, 2018 ), and it can be expected that in close future, quail may be the main bird involved in meat production due to its broad distribution (Sabow et al, 2020 ). Therefore, researchers should evaluate nutritional strategies to improve quail’s performance and meat quality (Vargas-Sánchez et al, 2018 ).…”