SENSORY AND MEAT QUALITY EVALUATION OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING GRADED LEVELS OF CORN COB AND SOYBEAN HULL AS A REPLACEMENT FOR WHEAT OFFAL

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To determine the meat quality and sensory evaluation of broiler chickens fed corn cob (CC) and soybean hull (SBH) as a replacement for wheat offal (WO), a total of 105 one day-old broiler chickens (Abor acre) were raised at the poultry unit of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Upon arrival, the birds were weighed and randomly allotted into 5 dietary treatments. Each dietary treatment consisted of 3 replicates of 7 birds each. The dietary treatments consisted of the T1/control (100%WO:0% CC+SBH), T2 (75%WO:25%CC+SBH), T3 (50%WO:50% CC+SBH), T4 (25WO%+75% CC+SBH) and T5 (0%WO:100% CC+SBH). Corn cob and soybean hull were included at ratio 1:1. At the 56th day of the experiment, breast meat samples were taken from 3 birds in each replicate and analyzed for meat quality and sensory characteristics. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design and data obtained for sensory and meat quality evaluation were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. Results obtained showed that water absorption capacity, cooking loss and refrigeration loss were significantly influenced (p<0.05) with birds on 100% CC+SBH recording lowest value for water absorption capacity (0.00%) and highest for refrigeration loss (6.00%). Meaty flavor, saltiness and overall flavor were the sensory parameters that were significantly influenced (p<0.05). However, overall acceptability remain unchanged (p>0.05) across dietary treatments. The study concluded that replacement of WO with CC
and SBH at up to 100% replacement level had little impact on meat quality and sensory evaluation and therefore recommended.