Partial replacement of soybean meal with Morula kernel cake in broiler diets: size of internal organs, carcass characteristics, and meat quality

Morula kernel cake (MKC) has been used previously in poultry diets and was found to be a potential feed ingredient. This study was carried out to investigate the carcass traits, organ yield, meat quality, and sensory attributes of broiler chicken fed graded inclusion of MKC as a replacement for soybean meal (SBM) in complete diets. A total of chickens (Ross 308) were assigned randomly to four treatments, with five replicate pens having 8 chickens per pen in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment and reared for the grower (15–28 days) and finisher phases (26–42 days). The broilers were fed a diet containing 0, 40, 80, or 120 g/kg MKC in place of SBM, and carcass traits, organ weights, meat quality, and sensory evaluation parameters were measured for 42 days. The carcass traits and organ weights were not significantly ( p > 0.05) different across the treatments except for those of the thigh+drum, vertebrae, liver, and gizzard. The lightness (L*) of the breast and thigh muscles linearly decreased ( p < 0.05) with MKC levels, whereas the redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of the breast and thigh muscles linearly increased ( p < 0.05) with the incremental level of MKC. Additionally, the meat color (L*, a*, and b*) of the breast muscle was greater ( p < 0.05) than that of the thigh muscle. Meat tenderness and cooking loss in both thigh and breast muscle were similar ( p > 0.05) across the treatments, with breast muscle being more tender ( p < 0.05) than thigh muscle. In the breast muscle of broilers reared on the 40 g/kg inclusion diet, the crude fat content was significantly ( p < 0.05) lower. Meat taste, flavor, and juiciness linearly ( p < 0.05) increased with increasing MKC. The MKC could be used to partially replace (SBM) in a broiler diet at 120 g/kg without negatively affecting carcass traits, organ yield, or meat quality attributes.