Effect of Broilers Chicken Diet Supplementation with Natural and Acidified Humic Substances on Quality of Produced Breast Meat

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Meat quality can be influenced by incorporating additives into an animal’s diet. Humic substances (HS) are natural products which have the potential to improve the meat quality of broiler chickens. HS are used as antidiarrheal, analgesic, immunostimulatory, and antimicrobial agents in poultry production. The effects of natural and acidified HS supplements on broiler meat quality traits (growth performance, carcass yield, physicochemical composition, lipid oxidation, antioxidant activity of meat extracts, and sensory and colour characteristics) were studied. Both supplements were composed of Leonardite, whereby the acidified HS were treated with formic acid for better digestibility. The breast meat quality of experimental broiler groups fed with HS were affected in total protein and fat content, and both showed lower lipid oxidation and higher antioxidant activity of meat extracts after the storage period (7 days at 4 ± 2 °C). ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to examine the effect of two humic substances (HS) supplemented in broilers’ diet on the breast meat quality of broiler chickens. In this experiment, 120 pieces of one-day-old COBB500 broiler chickens were used. Broilers were divided into three groups, each containing 40 birds with three replications (13, 13, and 14 per one pen). Fattening lasted 38 days. The first experimental diet was supplemented with 0.7% of HS (HS0.7) and the second was enriched with 0.7% of acidified HS (HSA0.7). The control group of broilers (C) was fed a basal diet without the addition of any supplements. HS0.7 samples had the highest total protein content and the lowest content of fat (p < 0.01). The effects of broiler diet and storage had a significant impact on the pH of breast samples, p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively. Supplementation of HS in broiler diet positively affected the lipid oxidation of breast meat samples, as indicated by the lower malondialdehyde content (p < 0.05). HSA0.7 samples had significantly better juiciness after the storage period (p < 0.001). The quality of meat produced with supplementation of HS in broilers’ feed can be considered as valuable in human nutrition due to improved protein and fat content with decreased lipid oxidation.