ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of natural antioxidants (black pepper, green tea, roselle and their combinations) on meat quality of broiler chickens. A total of 270 1 - day old Arbor Acre broiler chicks were randomly distributed into nine treatments of three replicates each (10 birds in each replicate) in a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement for 2 inclusion levels (0.5g and 1.0g per kg of feed) of natural antioxidants (Control (CT), Green tea (GT), Roselle (RS), Black pepper (BP) and combination (CM) of the 3 antioxidants). At the end of the feeding trial (at 8 weeks), nine birds per treatment were immobilized, slaughtered, dressed, weighed and cut into primal cuts. The growth (initial and final body weight gain, average daily feed intake and weight gain, and feed conversion) and blood assay (haematology and serum biochemistry) of the birds were monitored while the breast and thigh meat cuts were subjected to physico-chemical and sensory analysis. The result indicated that, among examined natural antioxidants, BP improved the bird抯 live weight. High Density Lipoprotein value was highest (p<0.05) in control and closely followed by birds on GT, CM, BP and RS. The lowest blood (p<0.05) cholesterol was recorded in RS which was closely followed by GT and CM. Carcass evaluation showed that birds fed BP had better (p<0.05) live weight (2.05kg) and highest acceptability (p<0.05) for organoleptic properties. The breast meat weight was also highest (p<0.05) in BP. It was concluded that the natural antioxidants increased live weight, improved performance and reduced abdominal fat. RS reduced blood cholesterol while RS, CM (GT + RS + BP) inclusion improved serum total protein of broiler chickens. Inclusion of natural antioxidant in the diets of broiler is hereby advocated for achieving optimum broilers performance and meat quality.