An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of supplementing broiler feed with
hesperidin or
naringin, on growth performance, carcass characteristics, breast meat quality and the oxidative stability of breast and thigh meat. Two hundred and forty 1-day-old Ross 308 broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 6 groups. One of the groups served as a control (C) and was given commercial basal diets, whereas the other five groups were given the same diets further supplemented with
naringin at 0.75 g/kg (N1),
naringin at 1.5 g/kg (N2),
hesperidin at 0.75 g/kg (E1),
hesperidin at 1.5 g/kg (E2) and a-
tocopheryl acetate at 0.2 g/kg (E). At 42 days of age, 10 chickens per treatment group were slaughtered for meat quality and oxidative stability assessment. No significant differences were observed among groups in final
body weight, carcass weight and internal organs weights (P>0.05) apart from liver that decreased linearly with increased levels of
naringin (P-linear<0.05). Regarding the breast meat quality parameters, only redness (a*) value was higher in E1 and N1 group compared to VE group (P<0.05), while all the others i.e. shear values (N/mm2), pH24, cooking loss (%) and L* and b* color parameters were not significantly different among groups (P>0.05). Measurement of
lipid oxidation values showed that after
hesperidin and
naringin dietary supplementation,
malondialdehyde values decreased in tissue samples in a dose depended manner (P-linear<0.05). In conclusion,
hesperidin and
naringin, positively influence meat antioxidative properties without negative implications on growth performance and meat quality characteristics in poultry, thus appearing as important additives for both the consumer and the industry.