Dietary chia meal and hydroxytyrosol outcomes in broiler performance, lipid blood serum parameters and meat quality.

Abstract

In poultry production, diet is an essential factor that must be considered to achieve optimal animal growth, directly influencing carcass characteristics and broiler health. The present research evaluated the effect of the addition in the diet of two by-products, chia meal and/or hydroxytyrosol, on broiler growth performance, serum metabolites, technological meat quality and color of the breast. Ninety-six broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 16 groups of 6 animals, randomly placed in 1 x 1 m pens, which were distributed in 4 blocks. In each block, experimental treatments were randomly assigned:1) C: control; 2) CM: 10% chia meal; 3) CM+HT: 10% chia meal + hydroxytyrosol; and 4) HT: hydroxytyrosol. The inclusion of hydroxytyrosol improved carcass and breast yield (P<0.05). Dietary chia meal addition may induce growth depression and higher organ weight (P<0.05). Broilers fed CM diet recorded lower serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) concentrations, whereas birds fed HT diet increased HDL levels (P<0.05) compared to the control. The CM diet resulted in negative effects on pH, water holding capacity (WHC), drip loss (DL) and color of the breast meat (P<0.05). However, the CM+HT diet improved animal blood health and technological meat quality. The results indicate that chia meal and hydroxytyrosol are beneficial dietary components in poultry meat production.