Effect of Bocaiuva Pulp Oil Supplemented to Broilers on Growth Performance, Quality, And Oxidative Stability of Meat

Abstract

We evaluated levels of bocaiuva pulp oil (Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd.) (BPO) in the diets of broiler chickens on performance, carcass characteristics, quality, and oxidative stability of meat. Broilers (1,440) were randomly allocated into 7 groups: 5 levels of BPO (100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 ppm); a negative control (NC) without performance enhancer; and a positive control (PC) with antibiotic (avilamycin), with 7 replicates each. From 1 to 7 days, birds fed the PC diet and those that received the BPO-containing diets, had higher weight gain compared to NC group. From 1 to 42 d, birds that received BPO had worse feed conversion rate compared to the PC diet. There was a quadratic effect of the inclusion levels of BPO on wing yield, with a lower percentage predicted at the level of 217 ppm of BPO. Birds that received diets containing BPO had lower breast yield when compared to the PC and NC groups. The variable lightness (L*) at 15 min postmortem was influenced by BPO levels, with an increasing linear effect. The TBARS value was higher in the meat samples analyzed after 20 days of storage, regardless of the inclusion level of BPO. Bocaiuva pulp oil can be used in broilers' diets to replace performance enhancers in birds up to 7-days old. During the other rearing periods, the inclusion of BPO had little or no effect on performance. According to meat quality and lipid oxidation analysis, it was not observed the antioxidant effect of BPO.

Keywords: Antioxidant capacity, Cerrado fruit, Lipid oxidation, Natural additive