Document Type : Research article
Authors
1
Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt
2
Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt
Abstract
The present study assessed the effects of different transport durations (0, 1, 2, and 3 hours) of broiler chickens on body weight loss, meat yield, meat quality, and blood metabolites. Seventy-two Cobb broilers aged 35 days, having an average body weight of 1.85±0.05 kg, were assigned to 4 treatments. Each treatment contained three replicates (replicate = 6 birds, treatment = 18 birds), and each replicate was transported in a single crate. The control birds were not transported, but the other three treatments were transported, in one truck, for durations of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 hours. The individual body weights were recorded before and after transport. The results indicated that there was no mortality recorded due to the transport treatments. The body weight loss of broilers transported for 1, 2 and 3 hours amounted to 1.52%, 1.61% and 1.65% of their pre-transport weights, respectively. The meat yield, in terms of dressing percentage, relative weights of the carcass, total pectoral muscle, and total leg muscle, was not affected by transport duration (P > 0.05). The water holding capacity and cooking loss of thigh and pectoral muscles, and the drip loss of pectoral muscle were not affected (P > 0.05) by the transport durations. However, the long transport durations (2 and 3 hours) tended to increase the drip loss of pectoral muscle and cooking loss of thigh muscle. The plasma total protein and globulin showed significant differences (P < 0.05) following an inconsistent trend among the treatments. Additionally, the tested transport durations did not show significant effects (P > 0.05) on hemoglobin, plasma glucose, uric acid, albumin, albumin/globulin ratio, triglycerides, lactic acid, and malondialdehyde. However, the long transportation (3 hours) relatively increased (P > 0.05) the triglycerides level in plasma, compared to the values of the other treatments. The birds transported for 1, 2, and 3 hours tended to have higher plasma malondialdehyde concentrations (P > 0.05) than the controls. The chemical analysis of pectoral muscle showed that the birds with the longest transport duration (3 hours) had lower water content (P < 0.05), higher dry matter, and ash content (P < 0.05) of pectoral muscle than the controls, and those transported for 1 and 2 hours showed intermediate values (P > 0.05). Finally, the crude fat content of pectoral muscle slightly decreased (P > 0.05) in a linear pattern with the increase in transport duration.
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