The effect of dietary selenium supplementation on meat quality of broiler chickens

Currently there is a focus on the development of functional poultry products capable of enrichment by selenium, vitamin E, iodine and fatty acids of the third order. Since there is a lack of data about various selenium sources and its synergistic effect on sensory and other properties of vitamin E enriched poultry, the objective of this research was to examine the effect of addition of selenium in broilers diet on meat quality. The amount of Se in the diet was increased from 0.15 mg.kg-1 feed (control group) to 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed. Addition of Se had no significant effect (p > 0.05) on cooking and thawing losses, as well as on the majority of sensory attributes, adhesiveness, cohesiveness of chicken breast samples. Aftertaste (p < 0.05), hardness (p < 0.001) and resilience (p < 0.001) of the texture of the samples increased along with the increased amount of Se in bird diet. Mean values of the sensory attributes of thigh muscles showed no significant differences among the samples in case of intensities of odor and taste attributes; however, firmness and chewiness of the tested samples increased by increasing the amount of Se in the feed (p > 0.05). In addition, Se did not have significant influence on meat cooking or thawing losses. The results of this study showed that 0.15 mg and 0.5 mg of selenium in complex with 40 mg of vitamin E could be added to broiler diet without having negative effect on technological or sensory properties of the broiler meat and acceptability

Influence of Chelators, Zn Sulphate and Silicic Acid on Productivity and Meat Quality of Fattening Pigs

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of special additives such as chelators, zinc sulphate and silicic acid on productivity parameters, carcass characteristics and meat quality of fattening pigs. The test started with 40 days old fattening pigs (mongrel (mother) and Yorkshire (father)) and lasted up to 156 days of age. During the fattening period, 32 pigs were divided into 2 groups (control and experimental) with 4 replicates (total of 8 pens). The pigs were fed for 16 weeks’ ad libitum with a standard wheat-barley-soybean meal compound (Control group) supplemented with chelators, zinc sulphate and silicic acid (dosage 2 kg/t of feed, Experimental group). Meat traits in live pigs were measured by ultrasonic equipment Piglog 105. The results obtained throughout the experimental period suggest that supplementation of chelators, zinc sulphate and silicic acid tend to positively affect average daily gain and feed conversion ratio of pigs for fattening (p < 0.05). Pigs’ evaluation with Piglog 105 showed that thickness of fat in the first and second point was by 4% and 3% respectively higher in comparison to the control group (p < 0.05). Carcass weight, yield, and length, also thickness of fat showed no significant difference among the groups. The water holding capacity of meat in Experimental group was lower by 5.28%, and tenderness – lower by 12% compared with that of the pigs in the Control group (p < 0.05). Regarding pigs’ meat chemical composition of the experimental group, a statistically significant difference comparing with the data of the control group was not determined. Cholesterol concentration in muscles of pigs fed diets supplemented with chelators, zinc sulphate and silicic acid was lower by 7.93 mg/100 g of muscle in comparison to that of the control group. These results suggest that supplementation of chelators, zinc sulphate and silicic acid in the feed for fattening pigs had significant effect on pigs growing performance and meat quality