Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementing EconomasE®( EcoE) as a vitamin E replacer on performance and meat quality of broilers. A total of 300 one-d-old male broilers were randomly assigned into 6 treatments. Each treatment comprised 5 replicates of 10 broilers each. Broilers were allocated to 1 of 6 diets and were fed for 42 d in a complete randomized design (CRD). The dietary treatments included four concentrations of EconomasE® (150 g, 200 g, 250 g and 300 g /ton) and a 100 IU vitamin E/kg level. The control group was fed with basal diet only. During 42-d growth period, all test diets increased the weight gain of broilers compared to the control (p<0.05). EcoE at 200g/ton (T3) diet fed birds had the highest weight gain (53.6 g/d) with the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1.71) (p< 0.05). Three birds from each replicate were sacrificed at the end of experiment to evaluate relative weights of organs and small intestine of broilers, water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss, and sensory properties of broiler breast meat. The lowest cook loss (14.1%), highest water holding capacity (63.1%) and higher juiciness of breast meat were recorded from 200 g/ton EconomasE® fed birds (p<0.05). The higher relative weights of bursa, spleen, gizzard, duodenum and jejunum were recorded by EcoE fed broilers (p<0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of EconomasE® has the same or better effects on performance, meat quality and organ weights of broilers compared with dietary supplementation of 100 IU vitamin E/kg.
Highlights
The success of broiler production which depends on maximum weight gain within minimum period is fulfilled by proper nutritional and management practices
All the experimental diets were formulated according to the NRC (1994) recommendations, weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in birds fed on diets containing EconomasE® were superior to those fed with the basal diet (Table 4)
Feed to gain ratio improved by 20% over the basal diet by the best level of EconomasE® (200 g EcoE/ton) which agrees with the findings of Ignacio (1995) and Onifade et al (1998) who revealed that feeding yeast to chicks improved body weight (BW) gain and feed/gain ratio
Summary
The success of broiler production which depends on maximum weight gain within minimum period is fulfilled by proper nutritional and management practices. Vitamin E (VE) is well known feed additive used for antioxidant properties (Halliwell and Gutteridge, 2000). Among α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherols, and α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocotrienols naturally occurring substances that have been found to display VE activity is α-tocopherol (α-T) which shows the highest antioxidant activity (Halliwell and Gutteridge, 2000). The beneficial effects of dietary VE on meat quality such as diminishing the lipid oxidation and off flavor development, increasing the concentration of vitamin E in meat, stabilizing the red colour of meat, reducing the drip losses and cook losses, improving the water holding capacity and increasing the shelf life of meat have been reported by many researchers (Buckley & Morrissey, 1992; Ahn et al, 1998, Grau et al, 2001; Ryu et al, 2005)
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