Dietary inclusion level effects of distillers dried grains with solubles on broiler meat quality.

A completely randomized design with 7 replications (n = 7, treatments = 5 with 8 subsamples per treatment) was used to evaluate the effects of feeding various levels of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS; 0, 6, 12, 18, and 24%) on broiler breast and thigh meat quality. Broilers were harvested in a pilot scale processing plant with commercial prototype equipment at 42 d of age. The right half of each breast was evaluated for pH, instrumental color, cooking loss, proximate analysis, and tenderness. The left half of each breast was used for consumer acceptability testing. Thigh meat was evaluated for proximate composition, fatty acid composition, and TBA reactive substances. Breast meat from broilers that were fed DDGS had a higher (P < 0.05) pH than those from the control diet. In addition, the 18 and 24% DDGS treatments yielded breast meat with higher (P < 0.05) pH values than the 6% DDGS treatment. No differences existed (P > 0.05) among breast meat from the different treatments with respect to cooking loss, instrumental color, and consumer acceptability, but breast meat from the control (0% DDGS) treatment had slightly lower (P < 0.05) shear force than breast meat from the 18 and 24% DDGS treatments. In addition, no differences (P > 0.05) existed among proximate composition of breast and thigh meat from the control and DDGS treatments. As DDGS concentration increased, there was a linear increase (P < 0.05) in linoleic and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which indicates a greater potential for lipid oxidation. The TBA reactive substances values were greater (P < 0.05) for the 18 and 24% DDGS treatments at d 5 when compared with the control and 6% DDGS treatments, which indicates increased oxidation. Overall, data suggest that all treatments yielded high-quality breast meat and that thigh meat quality was similar among treatments containing 0 to 12% DDGS, but higher inclusion levels led to thigh meat that was more susceptible to oxidation.