Breast meat yield, muscle linear measurements and meat composition of turkeys fed diet containing wheat or sorghum as sole cereal source

Abstract

Breast meat yield, chemical composition, mineral profile and linear measurement of the resultant breast meat Supracoracoides and Pectoralis thoracicus of one hundred and eighty (28 days old BUT) male turkeys fed diet containing wheat or sorghum as sole cereal source were studied. One hundred and eighty 28-days old male turkeys (British United Turkeys, BUT) were randomly allotted into 18 pens with 10 poults housed in each pen (of dimension 3.0× 2.0 m). Three experimental diets were formulated for the starter (29-56 days), grower (57-84) and finisher phase (85-112 days) such that ground maize (control), wheat or sorghum (light brown coat variety) was used as the only cereal source. The turkeys were randomly allotted to 18 pens (each  housing 10 turkeys) with each pen allocated to one of the experimental diets. Growth response,  breast meat yield, chemical composition, mineral profile and linear measurement of the resultant  breast meat yield were measured at the end of finishing phase. Turkeys fed with wheat and  sorghum had similar dressing percentage values. Turkeys fed with sorghum recorded lower  (P<0.05) final live weight (10,002.10 g), weight gain (9084.90 g), feed intake (19,942.67 g),  dressed weight (8099.94 g), breast meat yield (2691g) and higher relative BMY (269.05 g/kg LWT) than those fed with wheat. However, turkeys fed with wheat had higher (P<0.05) Supracoccoides weight (672.15 g) and length (26.9 g) than those fed with sorghum which recorded higher relative Supracoccoides weight (58.81 g) than those fed with sole wheat (53.76 g). Crude protein, ether extract, ash content, gross energy and mineral content of the BMY were not affected by dietary inclusion of wheat or sorghum as sole cereal source. However, the breast meat of turkeys fed with sorghum had lower (P<0.05) moisture (60.12%), cholesterol (19.05 mg/100g) and LDL (2.01 mg/100g) values than other corresponding values obtained for turkeys fed with wheat or control diet.

Key words: British United turkeys, Growth response, breast meat yield, mineral profile, linear measurement