Effects of phytase on the performance and broiler meat quality

Abstract

The effects of phytase on the performance, carcass yield and on the meat quality (lipid oxidation of drumstick and breast muscle) were evaluated on broilers submitted to diets containing corn, soybean and defatted corn germ meal, an ingredient with high level of phytic acid. Three hundred male broilers, with 4 d of age, were distributed in a completely randomized design with three treatments (represented by three levels of phytase in the diet: 0; 750 e 1500 FTU/kg of ration), with ten replicates and ten broilers per experimental unit. The feeding program was divided in three periods, according the age, starting (4 to 21 d), growing (22 to 35 d) and finishing phases (36 to 42 d). There were no phytase's effects on growth performance and carcass yield. There was an increasing the TBARS values to the refrigerated drumstick and the breast muscles, corresponding a negative effect on the lipid oxidation of meat.