The effect of dietary selenium supplementation on meat quality of broiler chickens

Currently there is a focus on the development of functional poultry products capable of enrichment by selenium, vitamin E, iodine and fatty acids of the third order. Since there is a lack of data about various selenium sources and its synergistic effect on sensory and other properties of vitamin E enriched poultry, the objective of this research was to examine the effect of addition of selenium in broilers diet on meat quality. The amount of Se in the diet was increased from 0.15 mg . kg(-1) feed (control group) to 0.5 mg . kg(-1) feed. Addition of Se had no significant effect (p > 0.05) on cooking and thawing losses, as well as on the majority of sensory attributes, adhesiveness, cohesiveness of chicken breast samples. Aftertaste (p < 0.05), hardness (p < 0.001) and resilience (p < 0.001) of the texture of the samples increased along with the increased amount of Se in bird diet. Mean values of the sensory attributes of thigh muscles showed no significant differences among the samples in case of intensities of odor and taste attributes; however, firmness and chewiness of the tested samples increased by increasing the amount of Se in the feed (p > 0.05). In addition, Se did not have significant influence on meat cooking or thawing losses. The results of this study showed that 0.15 mg and 0.5 mg of selenium in complex with 40 mg of vitamin E could be added to broiler diet without having negative effect on technological or sensory properties of the broiler meat and acceptability.