Performance and meat quality of broilers fed different levels of alpha-tocopherol

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the performance and meat quality of broilers fed different levels of alpha-tocopherol. A total of 240 one-day-old Cobb 500® male broiler chicks were reared until day 7 of life, as recommended by the commercial line, and were fed at only 50% of the alpha-tocopherol requirement. At day 8, the chicks were weighed, homogenized, and allotted in a completely randomized design with four treatments (50, 100, 150, and 200% alpha-tocopherol requirement) and six replicates of ten chickens per experimental unit. Several variables were evaluated: weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion, carcass yield and prime cuts (drumstick, thigh, and breast), edible viscera (heart, liver, gizzard), immune organs (cloacal bursa and spleen), intestine weight and length, abdominal fat, breast meat color (lightness, redness, and yellowness), pH, cooking loss, and shear force of the breast meat. Dietary alpha-tocopherol levels did not influence broiler performance, carcass yield, and prime cuts at 42 days of age. The edible viscera, immune organs, the length of the small intestine, and the abdominal fat, as well as the meat color (lightness, redness, and yellowness), pH, cooking loss, and shear force of the breast meat, were not influenced. However, the small intestine yield increased linearly with increasing levels of alpha-tocopherol. The dietary levels of alphatocopherol did not influence the performance and meat quality of broilers from 8 to 42 days of age.