Biomolecules, Fatty Acids, Meat Quality, and Growth Performance of Slow-Growing Chickens in an Organic Raising System

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The increasing demand for nutritionally rich quality products by health-conscious consumers has raised the need to explore alternative farming systems such as organic farming. In this study, we report the efficiency of Korat chickens grown in organic farm conditions. The study demonstrates not only that the slow-growing Korat chicken is suitable for organic farming, but also that the organic raising system improves its growth performance and meat quality. Furthermore, the study unveils a set of biochemical traits using synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared that show significant differences between the meat quality of chickens raised under conventional and organic raising systems, suggesting their potential use as markers to monitor the meat quality. The findings of this study provide evidence for the potential of organic raising systems for commercial adoption in tropical areas such as Southeast Asia. ABSTRACT: This study was to determine the effect of the organic raising system (OR) on growth performance, meat quality, and physicochemical properties of slow-growing chickens. Three hundred and sixty (one-day-old) Korat chickens (KRC) were randomly assigned to control (CO) and OR groups. The groups comprised six replicates of thirty chickens each. The chickens were housed in indoor pens (5 birds/m(2)), wherein those in OR had free access to Ruzi pasture (1 bird/4 m(2)) from d 21 to d 84 of age. In the CO group, chickens were fed with a mixed feed derived from commercial feedstuffs, while those in the OR group were fed with mixed feed derived from organic feedstuffs. The results revealed a lower feed intake (p < 0.0001) and feed conversion ratio (p = 0.004) in the OR. The OR increased total collagen, protein, shear force, color of skin and meat, and decreased abdominal fat (p < 0.05). The OR improved fatty acid with increased DHA, n-3 PUFA, and decreased the ratio of n-6 to n-3 PUFA in KRC meat (p < 0.05). The synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and correlation loading analyses confirmed these results. In conclusion, our results proved that OR could improve growth performance and meat quality and suggested the raising system be adopted commercially. In addition, the observed differences in biochemical molecules could also serve as markers for monitoring meat quality.