Partial replacement of soybean meal with Morula kernel cake in broiler diets: size of internal organs, carcass characteristics, and meat quality

Abstract

Morula kernel cake (MKC) has been used previously in poultry diets and was found to be a potential feed ingredient. This study was carried out to investigate the carcass traits, organ yield, meat quality, and sensory attributes of broiler chicken fed graded inclusion of MKC as a replacement for soybean meal (SBM) in complete diets. A total of chickens (Ross 308) were assigned randomly to four treatments, with five replicate pens having 8 chickens per pen in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment and reared for the grower (15–28 days) and finisher phases (26–42 days). The broilers were fed a diet containing 0, 40, 80, or 120 g/kg MKC in place of SBM, and carcass traits, organ weights, meat quality, and sensory evaluation parameters were measured for 42 days. The carcass traits and organ weights were not significantly (p > 0.05) different across the treatments except for those of the thigh+drum, vertebrae, liver, and gizzard. The lightness (L*) of the breast and thigh muscles linearly decreased (p < 0.05) with MKC levels, whereas the redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of the breast and thigh muscles linearly increased (p < 0.05) with the incremental level of MKC. Additionally, the meat color (L*, a*, and b*) of the breast muscle was greater (p < 0.05) than that of the thigh muscle. Meat tenderness and cooking loss in both thigh and breast muscle were similar (p > 0.05) across the treatments, with breast muscle being more tender (p < 0.05) than thigh muscle. In the breast muscle of broilers reared on the 40 g/kg inclusion diet, the crude fat content was significantly (p < 0.05) lower. Meat taste, flavor, and juiciness linearly (p < 0.05) increased with increasing MKC. The MKC could be used to partially replace (SBM) in a broiler diet at 120 g/kg without negatively affecting carcass traits, organ yield, or meat quality attributes.