Effect of protease added in food on chicken carcase quality

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of protease-supplemented diets containing different crude protein levels and sex on the weight and percent yields of individual meat classes (class I meat: breast, drumsticks and thighs; class II meat: wings, and class III meat back and pelvis) in Master Gris broilers (medium-growing strains). Chickens were fed maize-andsoybean- based diets. The fattening period lasted 49 days. Broilers were allocated to 3 dietary treatment groups: group C (standard diet, 0% protease), group E-I (0.2% protease, crude protein level reduced by 4% compared to C) and group E-II (0.3% protease, 6% reduction in crude protein compared to C). Results showed that no significant differences were observed in the weight of class I and class II meat between dietary treatments (P>0.05). Reduction of crude protein by 4% in diets supplemented with 0.2% protease affected the weight class III meat in male chickens (P<0.05). The feeding treatments did not influence the percentage of class I and class III (P>0.05), while significant differences were observed in percentage of class II meat (between male broilers in C and E-I groups, P<0.05). The effect of sex was significant on both weight and percentage of all three meat categories (P<0.05).