Research Article

Meat quality of quail fed with feedstuff containing Nigella sativa seeds

Józefa Gardzielewska, Danuta Szczerbińska, Małgorzata Jakubowska, Tadeusz Karamucki, Marek Ligocki

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 11(4), 2012, 31‒40

Abstract. The research was carried out on female Pharaoh quails from the 7th to 20th weeks of life, divided into 3 nutrition groups. Group I (control) received standard feedstuff for adult birds. Group II received feedstuff with 3% supplementation of Nigella sativa seed, and group III with 5% supplementation. All the feedstuffs used in the experiment were isoprotein and isoenergetic. After the completed experiment 12 females were randomly selected from each group and slaughtered. In the isolated breast and leg muscles the following characteristics were determined: water holding capacity, drip loss, colour, basic chemical composition, fatty acid composition, and sensory attractiveness of meat and broth. The obtained results showed no effect of the supplementation on the basic chemical composition of breast and leg meat, or the content of fatty acids. We observed a favourable effect of 5% supplementation on the colour of meat. We observed a deterioration in the tastiness of the cooked breast muscles and broth made from these muscles. Meat of quails receiving the lower 3% doses of supplementation was more tender.

Keywords: fatty acid profile, meat quality, Nigella sativa seed, quail