Nutritional strategies and management practices to improve poultry meat quality

Publication date: 05/12/2022
Extent: 48 pages

Contributions by: Marco Zampiga and Federico Sirri, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Italy

Chapter synopsis: The concept of meat quality is of primary relevance for both producers, due to the implications for fresh retail and value-added meat products, and consumers, which are increasingly aware of the nutritional quality of food. Beside the genetic background, many environmental factors are able to influence meat quality traits in poultry. For instance, nutrition is considered as one of the most important determinants of poultry meat quality due to its effects on proximate composition, technological properties, oxidative stability and sensory traits. Furthermore, nutritional strategies can also play a role in limiting the negative consequences exerted on meat quality by certain conditions to which modern broiler lines are particularly susceptible, such as muscle abnormalities and heat stress. From another perspective, some management practices can also provide relevant benefits in terms of meat quality. In this context, the ancient practice known as “caponization” (i.e. castration) can deeply modify meat and carcass quality by changing the animal metabolism, providing to the consumers a high-quality alternative to conventional chicken meat. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, to summarize the most relevant findings concerning the effects of nutrition and feeding strategies on the different facets of the meat quality concept as well as to discuss the consequences of some environmental and management factors, such as heat stress and caponization, on this crucial topic for the modern poultry industry.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2022.0112.03