EFFECTS OF TURMERIC (CURCUMA LONGA), GARLIC (ALLIUM SATIVUM), GINGER (Zingiber officinate) POWDER AND THEIR COMBINATIONS AS FEED ADDITIVES ON MICROBIAL GROWTH OF RABBIT MEAT DURING REFRIGERATED STORAGE.

Abstract

The study evaluated the microbial growth of meat harvested from rabbits fed turmeric, garlic, ginger powder and their combinations. Forty-eight weaner rabbits (8 weeks old) were randomly allotted into eight dietary groups designated T1 to T8 in a completely randomized design. T1 contained 0% phytobiotic, T2, T3 and T4 contained 0.6% turmeric (TR), garlic (GA) and ginger (GG) powder respectively, T5, T6 and T7 contained combination of 0.3% each of TR+GA, TR+GG and GA+GG while T8 contained 0.2% each of the three phytobiotics. Meat were harvested aseptically, stored (00C) for 14days and analyzed for microbial load at days 0, 7 and 14. Total Bacterial Count (TBC) of psychrophilic bacteria and species colony (logCFU.g-1) were evaluated while the microbiological analyses were performed using plate dilution method. Result showed that lowest (p>0.05) TBC of 1.01 was recorded in T2. Significantly (p<0.01) lower Staphylococcus aureus (SA) (0.20) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) (0.03) were recorded in T2 while colony of other isolated bacterial were not significantly (p>0.05) different from the control. Similarly, storage duration has no significant effect on the TBC of the meat samples, SA count was reduced (p<0.01) from the initial 0.55 at day 0 to 0.06 at day 14 while PA count receded from 0.18 to 0.09 as storage progresses to day 14 (p<0.01). However, it has been concluded that dietary turmeric powder at 0.6% inhibited Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth while 14days of refrigeration reduced the plate counts of the two bacterial spp. than the control.