Effect of dietary supplementation with Mentha pulegium and Rosmarinus officinalis on carcass characteristics, oxidative stability and quality of Japanese quail breast meat

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with Mentha pulegium and Rosmarinus officinalis on the carcass characteristics, physicochemical properties, color, texture and oxidative stability of Japanese quail breast meat. Materials and Methods: 120 Japanese quails were divided into 4 treatments and 3 replications including T1: basic diet (control), T2: basic diet + M. pulegium (1.5%), T3: basic diet + R. officinalis (1.5%) and T4: basic diet + M. pulegium (1.5%) + R. officinalis (1.5%). Results: The results showed there was no significant difference in breast and thigh weight, pH, dry matter, ash, cooking loss and vitamin E content among the treatments. Live weight, protein and fat contents, redness (a*), yellowness (b*), phenol and carotenoid contents of all treatments increased significantly (P 0.05) in comparison to control. Supplementation of diet with M. pulegium and R. officinalis individually or in combination significantly reduced TBARS, lightness (L*) and hardness compared to control (P 0.05). Conclusions: The results revealed that supplementation of diet with M. pulegium and R. officinalis improved the protein and fat contents, color and oxidative stability of Japanese quail breast meat.