Effect of dietary supplemental nicotinic acid on growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality in three genotypes of chicken

Abstract

The effects of dietary supplemental nicotinic acid (NA) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality were investigated in three genotypes of chicken. Fast-growing AA (Arbor Acres) broilers were compared with two genotypes of a slow-growing local breed, Beijing-You, that had undergone selection for and against intramuscular fat content respectively (BJY+IMF and BJY-IMF). The treatments were arranged 3×4 factorial completely randomized design. Day-old females (n=624) were allocated to four treatments with six replicates per treatment and fed diets (basal contained ~25 mg NA/kg) supplemented with 0, 30, 60 and 120 mg NA/kg. A sample of 72 birds from each genotype was slaughtered at market time (8 weeks of age for AA and 16 weeks of age for BJY). The breast muscles of AA broilers were darker, had less redness and yellowness, lower drip loss and higher shear force as compared to the BJY genotypes (p<0.01). The highest drip loss and the lowest shear force among the three genotypes were apparent in BJY+IMF (p<0.01). Increasing supplementation from 0 to 60 mg NA/kg tended to increase average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake, width of intermuscular fat band, thickness of subcutaneous fat (including skin) and percentage of abdominal fat but, for most variables, values decreased slightly with 120 mg NA/kg. Increasing supplementation to 60 mg NA/kg decreased (quadratic, p<0.001) drip loss, but it increased at 120 mg NA/kg. The present results indicate that (i) the AA broilers fed corn-soybean meal based-diets require approximately 60 mg NA/kg to maximize ADG and meat product yield and decrease the drip loss of breast muscle; (ii) the addition of 30 mg NA/kg meets the requirement of BJY genotypes; and (iii) there seems to be no beneficial effect of NA supplementation on chicken meat quality except for limiting the drip loss.

Effects of physical restraint and electrical stunning on plasma corticosterone, postmortem metabolism, and quality of broiler breast muscle1

“…Two samples were taken from the thickest place of the right pectoralis major in each broiler at 24 h postmortem and then cut into cuboids. Each sample (20 ± 1.5 g) was weighed exactly (W 1 ) and individually placed into polyethylene bags and cooked in a water bath at 85°C until the center temperature had reached 70°C (Jiang et al, 2011). The center temperature was tracked with a portable needle-tipped thermometer during cooking.…”

Comparison of breast muscle meat quality in 2 broiler breeds

“…Some studies have examined chemical traits such as intramuscular fat content and fatty acid composition at the same day of age (DeVol et al, 1988;Cherian et al, 2002;Matteo et al, 2007;Zhao et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2011). As the living standards of consumers have improved, an increase has occurred in demand for perceived quality in meat products and in consumer preference for indigenous chicken breeds.…”

Follicle-stimulating hormone increases the intramuscular fat content and expression of lipid biosynthesis genes in chicken breast muscle

“…The Beijing-You (BJY) is one of the most famous Chinese local chicken breeds with superior meat quality and acceptability (Jiang et al, 2011). In the present study, using female BJY chickens, we assessed the effects of exogenous FSH on TG content in chicken breast muscle, abdominal fat percentage, serum concentrations of FSH and E2, and mRNA expression of lipid metabolism-related genes in chicken breast muscle and abdominal fat.…”