Influence of pre-slaughter fasting time on weight loss , meat quality and carcass contamination in broilers.

Objective: An experiment was conducted to determine the appropriate fasting time prior to slaughter for broilers in floor-feed and scatter-feed mode.

Methods: On 21 d of breeding, 120 Arbor Acres broilers were divided into floor-feed and scatter-feed groups, chicks from each group were further assigned to feed withdrawal treatments for 0, 4, 6, 8 and 10 h. Some resultant indicators such as carcass contamination, body weight loss, meat quality of 54-day-old broilers were measured.

Results: It appears that longer feed withdrawal increased weight loss, lightness, drop loss of meat but reduced pH. A significant higher weight loss and lightness for both floor-feed and scatter-feed chicks coincided after 6-10 h feed withdrawal (p<0.05). pH for breast muscle at 45 min postmortem reduced when chicks of scatter-feed were fasted 6 and 10 h, while the reduction of floor-feed group occurred only in 10 h (P < 0.05). A noticeable effect of feed withdrawal on drop loss occurred after 10 h fasting in scatter-feed of which drop loss were significantly higher than that for other groups including control (p<0.05). The change of contamination propensity revealed that 6-10 h fasting significantly reduced the likelihood of carcass contamination under both floor-feed and scatter-feed (p<0.05). Net weights of intestinal contents for gizzard were significantly reduced after feed deprived of 10 h in floor-feed and 6 and10 h in scatter-feed (p<0.05). The decrease for whole intestine occurred after floor-feed broilers have been without feed for more than 4 h, scatter-feed broilers for more than 8 h (p<0.05).

Conclusion: On the premise that poultry product properties and welfare were not significantly damaged, proper fasting time could reduce carcass contamination. Current data implied that 6 h fasting were recommendable for both floor and scatter feed pre-slaughter broilers.