Effects of Supplementary Blood Meal on the Content of Carnosine and Anserine in Broiler Meat

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of blood meal (BM) on carnosine (L-Car) and anserine (L-Ans) content in the chicken breast muscle (CBM). In Experiment 1,384 Ross® broiler chicks of 1 d old were assigned to 3 dietary treatments: 100% basal diet (BM-0), 95% basal diet+5% BM (BM-5), and 90% basal diet + 10% BM (BM-10). In Experiment 2, 144 Ross® broiler chicks of 1 d old were fed BM-treated diets, including 0% BM (BMI-0), 5% BM (BMI-5), and 10% BM (BMI-10), with isocalorie and isonitrogen adjustment. Broilers were reared in stainless steel cages for 5 wk in both experiments. In Experiment 1, the content of L-Car and L-Arg increased as the birds aged. The increase was quadratic in L-Car and linear in L-Ans. The content of L-Car linearly (P<0.01) increased as the level of BM increased at wk 4 and 5, but there was no significant difference between BM-5 and BM-10 treatment. Conversely, the content of L-Ans linearly (P<0.01) decreased as the level of BM increased at wk 1, 3, 4, and 5. In Experiment 2, the content of L-Car and L-Arg showed quadratic increase as the birds aged. The content of L-Car showed a significant (P< 0.01) negative quadratic response as the level of BM increased at wk 1, 3, and 5. The content of L-Ans showed a significant (P<0.05) positive quadratic response as the level of BM increased at wk 3 and 5. The growth performances were not significantly affected by treatments in Experiment 1; in Experiment 2, however, a linear decrease (P< 0.01) in feed intake and weight gain, and a linear increase (P<0.01) in feed conversion ratio were observed as the BM was increased. In conclusion, addition of 5% BM in broiler diet increases the L-Car but not L-Ans in CBM.