Effects of different rearing and feeding methods on meat quality and antioxidative properties in Chinese Yellow male broilers.

摘要

Responses of male broiler chickens, during a 42 day production cycle, to 2 different rearing and feeding methods were examined. 400 Chinese Yellow male chickens were allotted randomly at 21 days into 2 groups. The control was a typical indoor commercial rearing method and the treatment had outdoor access with scattered feeding (OS). Each group had 5 replicates with 40 birds per replicate. Growth performance was similar for both groups from 21 to 63 days of age. OS birds had significantly lower abdominal fat percentage, meat shear force, drip loss and breast meat colour b* value, and significantly higher pH value than the controls. OS birds had significantly lower meat fibre diam. and greater meat fibre density. Serum glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities were significantly higher and the contents of cholesterol, lactic acid, glycogen and malondialdehyde in breast meat were significantly lower in OS birds than controls. Results suggest that OS feeding has no negative effects upon performance (wt., gain, feed conversion rate, carcass traits) and may be beneficial for meat quality indices and oxidative stability.