Effects of dietary chitosan oligosaccharides supplementation on meat quality, chemical composition and anti-oxidant capacity in frizzled chickens

The aim of this study was to evaluate dietary chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) supplementation on meat quality, chemical composition and oxidative stability in frizzled chickens. A total of 360 one-day-old female frizzled chickens with an average body weight of 34.38 ± 1.23 g were randomly allocated to four groups with six replications (10 chickens/replication) in this 84-day experiment. The chickens in the control group (CON) fed the basal diet and the other three experimental diets were based on the basal diet with 300, 600 and 900 mg/kg COS supplementation, respectively. The results indicated that dietary COS increased growth performance, eviscerated and breast muscle yield while decreased abdominal fat yield, accompanied with increasing pH45min, pH24h, Lightness, drip loss and cooking loss in breast and thigh muscle. The scavenging activity of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical and 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt, the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in breast and thigh muscle were improved by COS while malondialdehyde content was decreased. COS up-regulated the gene expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, heme oxygenase-1, NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1, SOD, CAT and GSH-Px in breast and thigh muscle. In conclusion, dietary COS supplementation improved meat quality by improving pH, colour, water holding capacity and anti-oxidant capacity, accompanied with decreased lipid metabolism in frizzled chickens. Dietary 600 mg/kg COS was recommended in frizzled chickens’ diet to improve meat quality.Highlights COS improves growth performance of frizzled chickens. COS improves meat quality of frizzled chickens. COS enhances anti-oxidant capacity of frizzled chickens’ meat.