Meat quality and sensory attributes of meat produced from broiler chickens fed a high oleic peanut diet

Authors: Toomer, Ondulla; LIVINGSTON, MATTHEW - North Carolina State University; WALL, BRITTANY - North Carolina State University; SANDERS, ELLIOT - North Carolina State University; Vu, Thien; MALHEIROS, R - North Carolina State University; LIVINGSTON, KIM - North Carolina State University; CARVALHO, LUIZ VICTOR - North Carolina State University; FERKET, PETER - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2018
Publication Date: 10/1/2019
Citation: Toomer, O.T., Livingston, M.L., Wall, B., Sanders, E., Vu, T.C., Malheiros, R., Livingston, K.A., Carvalho, L.M., Ferket, P.R. 2019. Meat quality and sensory attributes of meat produced from broiler chickens fed a high oleic peanut diet. Poultry Science. 98(10):5188-5197. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez258.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez258

Interpretive Summary: In years past, normal-oleic peanuts were identified as a suitable and economical broiler chicken feed ingredient. However, no studies to date have examined the use of new high-oleic peanut cultivars (80% oleic fatty acids and 2% linoleic fatty acids) as a feed ingredient for poultry and determined the impact of feeding high-oleic peanuts on the quality and sensory attributes of the meat produced. Thus we conducted a study in which 300 broiler chickens were fed a soybean control diet, high-oleic peanut diet, or a control diet spiked with oleic oil for 6 weeks. At 6 weeks, 10 broilers/treatment were processed for meat quality and consumer evaluation. This study demonstrated that meat produced from broiler chickens fed a high-oleic peanut diet had marginally reduced meat quality and size. However, 100 consumer panelist scored similar sensory attrributes (flavor, moistness, texture liking scores) for chicken breast between treatment groups. The benefits of this project could potentially have a positive economic impact on the peanut industry due to the identification of high-oleic peanuts suitable feed ingredient for poultry.

Technical Abstract: Previous studies have identified peanut meal prepared from normal-oleic peanuts as a suitable and economical ingredient for broiler feed. However, to date, no studies have examined the use of new, higholeic peanut (HO-PN) cultivars as a feed ingredient for poultry. This project aimed to determine the effect of HO-PNs as a feed ingredient for broiler chickens on the quality and sensory attributes of the meat produced. To test 3 experimental diets, male broiler chicks were randomly placed, at hatch, in raised-wire cages, in 10 replicate pens per treatment with 10 chicks per cage. For 6 wk, chicks were fed, ad libitum, one of the three isocaloric, isonitrogenous diets: (1) a conventional soybean meal plus corn control diet, (2) 10 to 12% HO-PN + corn diet, or (3) a control corn diet spiked with almost equal to 6.0% oleic fatty acid oil (OA). At 42 D, 3 broilers per pen (30 per treatment) were processed to determine meat quality and for consumer evaluation. Carcass weights and breast yields were reduced in broilers fed HO-PN, while leg carcass yields were greater in broilers fed HO-PN in comparison to the other groups. Chicken breast from broilers fed HO-PN had reduced meat-pH, reduced L* color values, and increased cooked loss compared to other treatments. Nevertheless, a group of 100-consumer panelists scored all 3-treatment groups similar in terms of sensory attributes for cooked chicken. While additional studies must be performed, this study suggest that HO-PN may be a suitable broiler feed ingredient.