Quality Evaluation Of Breast Meat From Chickens Fed Cassava Leaf Meal-Based Diets

ContextFeed supply is an important constraint for poultry production in South Pacific island nations. The use of non-conventional feed resources, such as cassava leaves, could partly fill the gap in the feed supply and reduce feed production costs. Cassava leaves are locally available in South Pacific island nations, but the effects of including these in the diet of chickens are not known.AimIt was hypothesised that cassava leaf meal (CLM) at levels of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% in diets of broiler chickens did not affect the chemical and sensory attributes of breast meat.MethodsA total of 80 Cobb 500 female broilers were fed treatment diets with CLM included at levels of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% DM from the age of 21 days to 49 days. Twenty chickens were subjected to each treatment diet. Samples of pectoralis major muscles (breast meat) from chickens fed the treatment diets were removed and analysed for chemical and sensory parameters.Key resultsAsh, crude fat and carbohydrate content were low in breast meat of chickens fed diets with higher inclusion levels of CLM (30%) compared with breast meat of chickens fed other treatment diets (P < 0.05). There was a quadratic relationship between ash content of breast meat and inclusion levels of CLM in the diets of chickens (P < 0.05). No relationships were observed between sensory attributes of breast meat and inclusion levels of CLM in the diets of chickens. Principal component analysis showed the first four principal components (PC) with an eigenvalue >1 account for 77.1% of the total variance for quality parameters of breast meat from chicken fed CLM-based diets. The two main components (PC1 vs PC2) together explained 52.46% of the variation. The data on panellists generated by PC1 versus PC2 plot suggests that the roasted breast meat could be separated by different treatment groups.ConclusionThe results show that CLM inclusion in the diets of chickens does not affect the sensory qualities of chicken breast meat. Chemical attributes of breast meat were, however, affected when broiler chickens were fed CLM-based dietsImplicationFurther exploration of the fatty acid profile and oxidative stability of breast meat from chickens fed CLM-based diets is essential for human clinical application and the meat processing industry.