O RENDIMENTO DE CARCAÇA E QUALIDADE DA CARNE DO PEITO DE FRANGOS CAIPIRA ALIMENTADOS COM TORTA DE ALGODÃO

The food used in the rearing of free-range chicken represent the potential for finding results related to their growth and the quality of their meat. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the carcass yield and physicochemical parameters of the meat of the free-range chicken breast of the naked neck lineage by replacing the protein of soybean meal for the protein of the cottonseed cake. For this purpose, the experiments were conducted in a completely randomized design, with five treatments (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% replacement), six replicates and fifteen birds per repetition. Therefore, the relative weight of the carcass, the noble cuts (breast, drumstick leg and thigh), the edible viscera, the small intestine, and the length of the small intestine were evaluated. Results showed that there was no influence of the diet on the evaluated parameters, except for the chemical composition in which there was a linear reduction in the fat content of the free-range chicken breast meat as  the level of replacement of soybean meal protein by cottonseed cake protein increased. Thus, the results of the variables of relative weight and the physicochemical composition of breast meat revealed the possibility of replacing up to 40% of soybean meal protein for cottonseed cake protein for the rearing of free-range chicken.