Effect of hesperidin addition to quail diets on fattening performance and quality parameters, microbial load, lipid peroxidation and fatty acid profile of meat

This study examines the effect of different doses of hesperidin added to quail diets on growth performance of birds as well as on lipid peroxidation, some microbiological and physicochemical properties, and fatty acid profile of thigh tissue. In total 300 (male and female) Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were divided into three groups: control (C) group fed only a basal diet, HES1 and HES2 groups fed basal diet with the addition of 1 and 2 g/kg hesperidin, respectively. It was observed that hesperidin addition to quail lets had no effect on the growth performance parameters, such as live weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio, regardess of examined dose. It was determined that hesperidin dose did not affect meat water activity (P > 0.05) but influenced pH or colour parameters [brightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*)] of meat (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the antibacterial effect of hesperidin supplementation was observed as counts of total mesophilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Lactobacillus spp., Lactococcus spp., Micrococcus/Staphylococcus and total psychrophilic aerobic bacteria were limited and variable (P < 0.05). It was determined that hesperidin had a statistically significant effect on lipid peroxidation in meat on day 1 and 4 of storage. In addition, it was observed that the added hesperidin had a positive effect on n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; such as alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in terms of the lipid profile in thigh tissue (P < 0.05). So, it can be concluded that the hesperidin addition to quail diets exerted influence on microbiological properties and lipid peroxidation of meat, which can influence shelf life quality of quail meat; but also hesperidin addition had a health-promoting effect on the fatty acid profile of thigh meat increasing n-3 PUFA content.