Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Shaista S Nissa, MT Banday, AA Khan, Asif H Sofi, GG Sheikh, MS Mir, AS Bhat and Asma Qureshi

Abstract:
The present study was designed to investigate the effect of feeding diets supplemented with Artemisia absinthium leaf powder with or without enzyme on the different carcass, physico-chemical, sensory attributes and oxidative stability of broiler chicken meat. One day old Two hundred and fifty two commercial broiler chicks were reared for the five weeks and divided into seven treatment groups, each with three replicates of twelve birds each. The treatment groups were base diet (control), base diet+1% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder (T₂), base diet+ 1.5% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder (T₃), base diet+ 2% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder (T₄), base diet+ 1% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder+ Enzyme (T₅), base diet+ 1.5% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder+ enzyme (T₆), base diet+ 2% Artemisia absinthium leaf powder (T₇). No significant differences were observed in slaughter characteristics, sensory attributes and carcass traits except for the dressing percentage which was improved in the birds fed diets supplemented with enzyme treated Artemisia absinthium. The oxidative stability of meat expressed in terms of Malondialdehyde concentration differed significantly (P≤0.05) between treatment groups. The Malondialdehyde concentration in treatments containing 1%, 1.5% and 2% enzyme treated Artemisia absinthium were significantly (P≤0.05) decreased as compared to other treatment groups. Thus supplementation of broiler diets with enzyme treated Artemesia absinthium leaf powder improved the oxidative stability of broiler meat without adversely affecting the meat quality.