Chia meal and hydroxytyrosol on the nutritional quality of broiler chicken meat

Abstract

In poultry production, the composition of the diet directly influences the meat quality of birds. The ultimate goal is to obtain a functional food with direct benefits for the consumer. In this sense, it is highlighted the use of different sources that provide high levels of omega n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) in order to modify the lipid profile of the meat. However, rising the degree of unsaturation strongly increases susceptibility to lipid peroxidation and free radicals formation with negative effects on meat quality. The addition of an antioxidant is proposed as a novel technology regarding this problem. The objective of these research deals with the effect of the addition in the diet of two by-products, chia meal (Salvia hispánica L.; DESUS S.A, Argentine) and/or an olive antioxidant (hydroxytyrosol; GENOSA I+D, Spain), on fatty acids profile, lipids indices and ratios in breast muscle. Ninety-six, 1-dold, Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly divided into 16 groups of 6 animals, which were distributed in 4 blocks. In each block experimental treatments were randomly allocated 1) C: control (without chia meal (CM), without hydroxytyrosol (HT)); 2) CM: diet with 10% chia meal; 3) CM+HT: diet with 10% chia meal + hydroxytyrosol and 4) HT: diet with hydroxytyrosol. The experimental period lasted from day 22 to day 46, at which the slaughter was carried out and breast samples were obtained from two males/ block/treatment. The dietary chia meal increased (p<0.01) total PUFA, total n-3 PUFA, alpha-linolenic acid, and improved (p<0.05) unsaturated/saturated FA ratio, omega n-6/n-3 ratio, unsaturation index and thrombogenicity index, with a slight increase in the generation of free radicals. The addition of hydroxytyrosol combined with chia meal seems to be an effective way to enhance (p<0.01) the stability of n-3 PUFA through oxidative damage and alpha-linolenic level, providing improvements in the meat nutritional quality, with consequent health benefits for its consumers. Hydroxytyrosol is also a good alternative to other antioxidants.