Czech J. Food Sci., 2023, 41(4):279-286 | DOI: 10.17221/79/2023-CJFS

Chemical composition of dietary alfalfa and its effectiveness on broiler chicken thigh meat qualityOriginal Paper

Petru Alexandru Vlaicu ORCID..., Arabela Elena Untea, Raluca Paula Turcu, Mihaela Saracila, Iulia Varzaru, Alexandra Gabriela Oancea
Feed and Food Quality Department, National Research and Development Institute for Biology and Animal Nutrition, Balotesti, Romania

This study aimed to evaluate alfalfa meal's chemical and nutritional composition and effectiveness on broiler chicken thigh meat quality. Alfalfa contains significant content of crude protein and fibre, minerals (iron and zinc), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and antioxidant compounds, especially total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total polyphenols content (TPC). To test its effectiveness on chicken tight meat quality, we developed a trial on 60 Cobb 500 broilers, divided into two groups of 30 animals each and fed during growing-finishing phases (11–42 days) a control diet (C) and an experimental diet (A), in which 5% alfalfa meal was added. At the end of the trial, six animals from each group were selected for slaughter and sampling. The analyses on meat samples revealed that alfalfa significantly affected bioactive compounds with antioxidant potential, such as zinc, vitamin E and TPC, compared with the C samples. The utilisation of 5% alfalfa was also very effective on the fatty acids composition of thigh meat samples in the A group by increasing the concentration of eicosapentaenoic acid and significantly decreasing the n-6/n-3 ratio as well as cholesterol content with 10.41% in experimental samples. Therefore, alfalfa can be a potential alternative to synthetic feed additives in producing healthier chicken meat, with increased content of bioactive compounds and essential fatty acids for human health.

Keywords: antioxidants; bioactive compounds; fatty acids; feed additives

Received: May 26, 2023; Revised: July 21, 2023; Accepted: July 27, 2023; Prepublished online: August 15, 2023; Published: August 29, 2023  Show citation

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Vlaicu PA, Untea AE, Turcu RP, Saracila M, Varzaru I, Oancea AG. Chemical composition of dietary alfalfa and its effectiveness on broiler chicken thigh meat quality. Czech J. Food Sci. 2023;41(4):279-286. doi: 10.17221/79/2023-CJFS.
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