Effects of Co-Supplementation of β-Galacto-Oligosaccharides
and Methionine on Breast Meat Quality, Meat Oxidative Stability and
Selected Meat Quality Genes in Broilers
Sohrab Ahmad1,4, Muhammad Shahbaz
Yousaf1*, Sajid Khan Tahir1, Muhammad Afzal
Rashid2, Khalid Abdul Majeed1, Mahrukh Naseem3,
Mohsin Raza4, Zafar Hayat5, Abia Khalid1,
Hafsa Zaneb6 and Habib Rehman1*
1Department
of Physiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore,
Pakistan; 2Department of Animal Nutrition, University of
Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan; 3Department
of Zoology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Balochistan,
Pakistan; 4Department of Basic Sciences, Khan Bahadar
Choudhry Mushtaq Ahmed College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,
Narowal, Pakistan; 5Department of Animal Sciences,
College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha Pakistan;
6Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of
Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
*Corresponding author:
habibrehman@uvas.edu.pk; drmshahbaz@uvas.edu.pk
Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the
effects of co-supplementation of β-galacto-oligosaccharides (β-GOS), a prebiotic,
and methionine on selected meat quality traits, and the pathways governing
breast muscle formation and degradation in broilers. Day-old broilers (n = 288)
were distributed in a 3×2 factorial design (6 groups and 6 replicates/group)
based on three dietary levels of β-GOS (0, 0.2 and 0.5%) and two levels of
methionine (0.5 and 1.0%). On day 35, two birds per replicate (12 birds per
group) were exsanguinated to collect breast muscle samples for analysis. Results
showed that β-GOS supplementation reduced the initial pH15min (P<0.05), rate of pH change,
cooking loss (P<0.05), and muscle fiber diameter (P<0.05) with a concomitant
increase in the muscle catalase level (P<0.05), and fiber density (P<0.05).
Methionine (1.0%) downregulated the expression of MAFbx (P<0.05) and MuRF1
(P<0.05) genes. Methionine (0.5%) supplementation significantly decreased the
drip loss and upregulated the expression of MyoD (P<0.05) and M-CK (P<0.05)
genes. We conclude that though β-GOS and methionine co-supplementation did not
show any promising effects on meat quality in broilers, still, both β-GOS and
methionine partially improved the selected breast meat traits (decreased pH15min,
∆pH, elevated antioxidant activity, lower cooking loss, and higher muscle fiber
density) and breast muscle degradative changes (downregulating the expressions
of MuRF1 and MAFbx genes) respectively.
To Cite This Article:
Ahmad S, Yousaf MS, Tahir SK, Rashid MA, Majeed
KA, Naseem M, Raza M, Hayat Z, Khalid A, Zaneb H and Rehman H, 2023. Effects of
co-supplementation of β-galacto-oligosaccharides and methionine on breast meat
quality, meat oxidative stability, and selected meat quality genes in broilers.
Pak Vet J, 43(3): 428-434. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2023.043