Effects of feed restriction and additional fat supplementation on chemical composition and sensory evaluation of broiler's meat

A study was conducted to study the effects of feed restrictions and additional (1%) fat supplementation on meat quality of broilers. In this growth study, 480 chicks were distributed randomly into 8 treatments having total 60 birds per treatment (4 replicates × 15 chicks in each replicate).T0-Control group fed ad-libitum as per ICAR 2013 specification, T1-T0 with additional 1% fat supplementation, T2-T0 with feed restriction at 8–14 DOA (8–10 hrs), T3-T1 with feed restriction at 8–14 DOA (8–10 hrs), T4-T0 with feed restriction at 15–21 DOA (8–10 hrs), T5-T1 with feed restriction at 15–21 DOA (8–10 hrs), T6-T0 with feed restriction at 22–28 DOA (8–10 hrs) and T7-T1 with feed restriction at 22–28 DOA (8–10 hrs).4 birds of from each treatment were sacrificed and sample of meat from breast and thigh muscle were taken and analyse for chemical composition and sensory evaluation.Crude protein content of meat was significantly higher in second week feed restriction as compared to control and other restriction groups. The carcass fat was significantly lower in second week restriction group than other groups including control.Crude protein was significantly high in 2nd week feed restricted group as compared to control and other groups at both levels of fat. Fat was significantly higher for 2nd week restricted group for both levels of fat. Also for 4th week restriction 1% additional fat had significantly lower fat content. For colour at 3% fat 2ndweek feed restriction gave the better result as compare to other groups. Neither feed restriction nor fat levels had any effect on the odour of the meat. So it was concluded that feed restriction at 2nd week of age reduces the fat content of the meat and improved colour, texture, juiciness and overall acceptability of chicken meat.