PSXII-15 Effect of supplementation in diet with essential oils and butyric acid glycerides on the qualitative characteristics of broilers meat.

Abstract The use of performance-enhancing antibiotics in poultry diets is facing restrictions due to concerns about antibiotic-resistant bacteria affecting human health. Therefore, alternative products should be evaluated in different doses and combinations. This study, conducted at São Paulo State University, Dracena Campus, Brazil, aimed to assess the effects of essential oils and butyric acid glycerides on the qualitative characteristics of meat from broilers challenged with an anticoccidial vaccine. A total of 900 male Cobb broilers were used, distributed in a completely randomized design, with five treatments: NC - Basal diet (BD) (corn and soybean-based diet), without additive inclusion; AT - BD with the inclusion of avilamycin; EO - BD with the inclusion of cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, and thymol; BA - BD with the inclusion of butyric acid glycerides; and EO+BA - BD with the inclusion of cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, and thymol + butyric acid glycerides, with six repetitions. At 14 days of age, birds were challenged with a commercial anticoccidial vaccine containing Eimeria spp. via oral administration. The data were submitted to ANOVA using the GLM procedure, and when a significant effect was present, means were compared using Tukey’s test (P < 0.05). To evaluate the qualitative characteristics of the meat, at 21 and 35 days of age, the chickens were subjected to a six-hour fast, after which two birds were randomly selected per repetition. The removed birds were weighed and subsequently euthanized by dislocating the atlanto-occipital joint. They were processed according to normal slaughter procedures: bleeding, plucking, and evisceration. The breasts were collected and stored in a refrigerator for 24 hours for analysis of the following variables: shear force (SF), water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss (CL), color, pH, and lipid oxidation of the meat through the quantification of malondialdehydes by the thiobarbituric acid test. When analyzing the qualitative characteristics of chicken meat at 21 days of age, a difference (P = 0.0183) was observed only in the lipid oxidation of the collected breasts (Table 1). The provision of avilamycin and alternative additives resulted in lower levels of rancidity, statistically differing from the birds that did not receive any additives (NC), which exhibited higher rates of lipid oxidation. At 35 days, the additives did not provide any differences (P > 0.05) in any of the studied variables: pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss (CL), shear force (SF), luminosity (L*), red color intensity (a*), yellow color intensity (b*), and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. These findings suggest that the supplementation of diets with essential oils (cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, thymol) and/or butyric acid as an alternative to avilamycin did not interfere with meat quality; however, the alternative additives are effective in increasing antioxidant capacity, which could serve as an alternative to the use of avilamycin.