Modern consumers are conscious of the relationship between meat quality and animal welfare. Today, slow-growing chickens are associated with a higher broiler welfare. The present work aims to evaluate the effect of dietary natural extract supplementation with polyphenols and seaweed mixtures (PPE) on breast and thigh muscles quality parameters in Hubbard JA57 slow growth chicken in antibiotic-free production. Five hundred Hubbard female chickens (250 from control and 250 from experimental group) were housed on floor pens (10 pens/treatment, 25 birds/pen) and assigned to two experimental groups: a control group (CON) receiving a commercial diet and another group receiving the same diet supplemented with 0.3% of polyphenols and seaweed mixtures (PPE). Dietary supplementation with PPE did not affect (p > 0.05) growth performances. The breast pH tended to be lower (p = 0.062) in PPE groups. The protein content of breast muscles resulted higher in PPE samples (p < 0.05) than controls. The thigh muscles from PPE group showed a lower (p < 0.05) malondialdehyde content than CON during refrigerated storage. In conclusion, the PPE supplement improves breast muscle protein content and oxidative stability of thigh muscle. This feeding practice is suggested to enhance the nutritional and technological parameters of meat Hubbard slow growth chicken in antibiotic-free production.
Keywords: Hubbard slow growth chicken; growth performances; meat quality; polyphenols; seaweed.