Cooked broiler meat quality affected by different Mediterranean medicinal plants in the diet

Objective

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of adding oregano (Origanum syriacum L.) and germander (Teucrium polium L.) to poultry diets individually and/or in combination: i) on cooked chicken meat quality and storage stability, ii) to compare this effect with those of the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and with the normal basic diet (Control: without supplements).

Methods

Broilers (140 birds) were raised for 21 days and then equally divided into five different treatment groups of 28 birds each. The dietary treatments were as follows: i) control; ii) germander (GER, 1.5%); iii) oregano (ORE, 2.5%); iv) combination of GER and ORE (CM, 1.5%, and 2.5%); v) BHA (0.02%). Meat patties from the five treatments were prepared, cooked, and stored at 4°C prior to analysis. During storage, samples were measured for thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and total carbonyl levels at 0, 4, and 7 days. In addition, cooked thigh meat was prepared separately to evaluate cooking loss and sensory attributes.

Results

The CM dietary treatment showed the highest antioxidant effect, with decreasing TBARS values (breast and thigh meat) throughout the storage time (4 to 7 days). Furthermore, ORE showed a higher antioxidant effect, decreasing the rancidity development (TBARS values), compared to the GER during the storage period (days 0 to 7). The anti-carbonyl effect of the CM supplement was the highest among all treatments from day 0 to 7. Generally, the antioxidant effect of GER was lower compared to that of ORE and BHA alone. The CM treatment most significantly decreased off-odor and rancidity development, with the lowest oxidation odor scores.

Conclusion

The results indicate that the combination of oregano and germander in the diet of boilers improves meat quality and prolongs shelf life.

Relief of the negative effects of heat stress on semen quality, reproductive efficiency and oxidative capacity of rabbit bucks using different natural antioxidants

Objective

The potential of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), betaine (BET), and ginger (GIN), as natural antioxidants, in reducing negative effects of heat stress on physiological responses, antioxidant capacity, semen quality and fertility of bucks under heat stress were investigated.

Methods

Forty adult Animal Production Research Institute line rabbit bucks were distributed randomly into four experimental treatments of ten rabbits each. The first treatment was fed the commercial pellet diet (CPD) without supplementation and served as a control. The other three treatments were fed CPD supplemented with EVOO (300 mg), BET (1,000 mg), and GIN (200 mg) per kg diet for 3 consecutive months during the summer season.

Results

Supplementation of EVOO, BET, or GIN improved (p<0.05) the sexual desire, progressive motility, vitality, intact acrosome and membrane integrity, sperm cell concentration, sperm outputs and fertility. Seminal plasma total proteins, globulin, total antioxidant capacity, glutathione and glutathione S-transferase, and initial fructose increased (p<0.05), while total lipids, aspartate and alanine aminotransferases and malondialdehyde decreased (p<0.05) compared with the control. In comparing the natural antioxidants treatments, GIN evoked the largest improvement.

Conclusion

The inclusion of GIN (200 mg/kg diet) appeared to improve the sexual desire, semen quality and oxidative stress of bucks. This may be a beneficial supplement for the management of rabbit bucks used in natural mating or artificial insemination.

Curcumin Inhibits The Adverse Effects of Sodium Arsenite in Mouse Epididymal Sperm

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of curcumin on epididy- mal sperm parameters in adult male Navel Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice ex- posed to sodium arsenite.

Materials and Methods

In this experimental study, we divided the animals into four groups: control, sodium arsenite (5 mg/kg), curcumin (100 mg/kg) and curcumin+sodium arsenite. Exposures were performed by intraperitoneal injections for a 5-week period. After the exposure period, we recorded the animals’ body and left testes weights. The left caudal epididymis was used to count the sperm number and analyze motility, viability, morphological abnormalities, acrosome reaction, DNA integrity, and histone-protamine replacement in the spermatozoa. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Tukey’s test was used to assess the statistical significance of the data with SPSS 16.0. P<0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Mice exposed to sodium arsenite showed a significant decrease in the num- ber, motility, viability, normal sperm morphology and acrosome integrity of spermato- zoa compared to the control group. In the curcumin+sodium arsenite group, curcumin significantly reversed these adverse effects to the point where they approximated the control. In addition, the application of curcumin alone had no significant difference in these parameters compared to the control and curcumin+sodium arsenite groups. However, we observed no significant differences in the body and the testis weight as well as the DNA integrity and histone-protamine replacement in the spermatozoa of the four groups.

Conclusion

Curcumin compensated for the toxic effects of sodium arsenite on a number of sperm parameters in adult mice.

Efficacy of tomato powder as antioxidant in cooked pork patties

This study was carried out to determine the effects of tomato powder (TP) on cooked pork patties during storage at 10±1°C in the dark. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents of TP extract were 26.22 mg gallic acid/100 g and 3.52 mg quercetin/100 g, respectively. The extract of TP showed a potential antioxidant activity in the DPPH radical-scavenging assay (EC50 = 16.76 μg/mL). Pork patties were manufactured with 0.25% (T1), 0.5% (T2), 0.75% (T3) and 1.0% (T4) TP in a basic formula (C). The pH and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) values of T2, T3 and T4 patties were lower (p<0.05) than the C patties during storage. Increased concentration of TP in meat patties decreased (p<0.05) the 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total plate count (TPC) values at d 7 of storage. Tomato treated-patties had lower (p<0.05) values for lightness (L*), but higher (p<0.05) values for redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) at d 3 and 7 of storage compared with the C. In the case of sensory evaluation, the scores of colour, flavour and overall acceptability of T3 and T4 patties were higher (p<0.05) than those of the C patty after 3 or 7 days of storage.