Environmental Enrichment Has Minimal Impact on Fresh and Processed Meat Quality of Turkeys

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine impacts of environmental enrichment (EE) on turkey meat quality. A randomized complete block design was used with commercial turkeys (n = 420) randomly assigned to 6 EE treatments (control [C], pecking block [PB], platform [P], wooden platform þ straw bale [PSB], straw bale [SB], and tunnel [T]) across 24 pens (16 to 18 turkeys/pen). At 19 wk, turkeys were weighed (live weight [LW]), and 6 birds per pen were harvested, a subset (n = 96 carcasses) fabricated into wings, drumsticks, and boneless breasts and thighs. From the breast and thigh, samples were taken for pH and drip loss. From the breast, samples were taken for instrumental color and shear force, with remaining breast portions further processed into boneless turkey breast logs. From each log, slices were taken for packaged purge loss (PPL), expressed moisture loss (EML), instrumental color, and texture. All EE treatments were analyzed using PROC GLM. For LW, SB turkeys were lightest, PB turkeys were heaviest, and T, PSB, C, and P were intermediate (P = 0.01). For fresh turkey, EE treatment did not impact the fabrication values, fresh breast color, breast or thigh drip loss, or breast or thigh pH (P > 0.05) and had minimal impact to thigh color with significant differences only in the b* values (P = 0.04). For processed turkey, EE did not impact processing yield, PPL, a*, b*, or texture (P > 0.05). For L*, SB, T, P, and PSB were lighter, C were darker, and PB had intermediate values (P = 0.02). PB, PSB, C, and T had greater EML loss, P had the least, and SB had intermediate EML (P = 0.04). The results indicate some variations of turkey quality due to EE, but the impacts of specific enrichments were not consistent across quality parameters.