The effect of quantitative feed restriction duration on physico-chemical shelf life indicators of broiler meat.

The feeding method is a very important factor of poultry growth, production and meat quality since the feed composition can affect or change the characteristics of chicken meat quality. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of restricted feeding duration on physico-chemical shelf-life indicators of broiler meat. A total of 144-day old broiler chicks were reared in a deep litter system until slaughter at 42 days. Chicks were randomly allocated to three treatments which were replicated three times with 16 birds per replicate. The three treatments were the control (T1), one week of feed restriction (T2), and two weeks of feed restriction (T3). Birds were fed with starter, grower and finisher diets. The parameters for meat quality were analysed using one-way analysis of variance. Significant effect was found in cooking loss, with WBSF having no effect for breast muscles. Quantitative feed restriction had an effect on the pH, lightness, redness, yellowness and saturation index of the meat. The pH levels in all the treatments were generally constant after 24hours to day 5 (5.87-6.05). The lightness levels in all the treatments were generally constant from day1 to day 7 (42.56-44.53). At day 8, the L* (lightness) values in treatment 2 reached its peak (58.49) then declined on day 9. Therefore, feed restriction did not affect meat quality after 24 hours, all the values were within normal range, and feed restriction had a minimal effect on shelf-life of broiler chickens during 10 days of storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]