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. 2020 Apr 7;10(4):640.
doi: 10.3390/ani10040640.

Effects of Microencapsulated Blend of Organic Acids and Essential Oils as a Feed Additive on Quality of Chicken Breast Meat

Alessandro Stamilla  1 , Nunziatina Russo  1 , Antonino Messina  2 , Carmine Spadaro  1 , Antonio Natalello  1 , Cinzia Caggia  1 , Cinzia L Randazzo  1 , Massimiliano Lanza  1
Affiliations

Effects of Microencapsulated Blend of Organic Acids and Essential Oils as a Feed Additive on Quality of Chicken Breast Meat

Alessandro Stamilla et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation based on a blend of microencapsulated organic acids (sorbic and citric) and essential oils (thymol and vanillin) on chicken meat quality. A total of 420 male Ross 308 chicks were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments: the control group was fed with conventional diet (CON), while the other group received the control diet supplemented with 0.5% of a microencapsulated blend of organic acids and essential oils (AVI). In breast meat samples, intramuscular fat content and saturated/polyunsaturated fatty acids ratio were reduced by AVI supplementation (p < 0.05). Moreover, atherogenic (p < 0.01) and thrombogenic (p < 0.05) indices were lower in AVI than CON treatment. AVI raw meat showed a lower density of psychrotrophic bacteria (p < 0.05) at an initial time, and higher loads of enterococci after 4 days of refrigerated storage (p < 0.05). No contamination of Listeria spp., Campylobacter spp., and Clostridium spp. was found. TBARS values of the cooked meat were lower in the AVI treatment compared to CON (p < 0.01). Among colour parameters, a*, b* and C* values increased between 4 and 7 days of storage in AVI cooked meat (p < 0.05). Overall, organic acids and essential oils could improve the quality and shelf-life of poultry meat.

Keywords: essential oils; feed additive; meat quality; meat shelf-life; organic acids; poultry meat.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Interactive effect of dietary treatments (CON, basal diet; AVI, basal diet + 0.5% organic acids and essential oils) and storage time (days 0, 4, 7 and 11) on microbial counts of raw meat, expressed as log10 cfu/g: (a) Enterococcus spp.; (b) mesophilic bacteria; (c) psychrotrophic bacteria; (d) coagulase-positive Staphylococcus; (e) Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB); (f) yeasts/moulds. a–e Values with different superscripts are significantly different (p < 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of dietary treatment (CON, basal diet; AVI, basal diet + 0.5% organic acids and essential oils) on lipid oxidation trend in raw (a) and cooked (b) meat (*: p < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Interactive effect of dietary treatment (CON, basal diet; AVI, basal diet + 0.5% organic acids and essential oils) and time of storage (days 0, 2, 4 and 7) on a*, b* and C* values in cooked meat, (a), (b) and (c) respectively. a–d Values with different superscripts are significantly different (p < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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