Effect of dietary levels of Artichoke leaf powder on meat quality of thigh and breast and fatty acids profile of breast meat in Japanese quail

In order to study the effects of Artichoke leaf powder on the quality parameters of thigh and breast meat and the fatty acids profile of breast meat, 240 day-old Japanese quails were used. The Brids were assigned to 4 treatments including basal diet (control), basal diet supplemented with levels of 15 and 30 g/Kg Artichoke powder and 300 mg/Kg vitamin E with 4 replicates for each treatment in a completely randomized design. Treatments of artichoke powder and vitamin E resulted in lower malondialdiahid in thigh meat. The amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) was lower in breast meat of birds fed diet containing 15 g/Kg Artichoke powder. The amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in quail breast meat did not affected by the treatments. The amounts of alpha-linolenic acid and PUFA were greater in breast meat of quails treated with Artichoke powder than birds fed basal diet and diet supplemented with vitamin E. PUFA/SFA ratio, total amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and also omega-6/omega-3 ratio were improving in birds treated with Artichoke powder. This study showed that dietary levels of 15 and 30 g/Kg Artichoke leaf powder can increase linolenic acid and consequently relative improvement of nutritional value of quail breast meat.