Development of Iron and Zinc Enriched Meat of Japanese Quails as Functional Food

Abstract

A study was carried out to develop iron and zinc enriched meat as functional food by supplementing organic Fe and Zn to Japanese quails. A total of 600 day old quail chicks were allotted to five treatment groups (T1 to T5) of 120 chicks each with four replicates consisting of 30 birds per replicate. Control diet (T1) was formulated by incorporating inorganic iron (120 mg/kg) and zinc (25 mg/kg) according to NRC (1994) specifications. For each of the treatments (T2-T5), inorganic Fe and Zn of control diet were replaced by organic Fe (Fe-methionine) and Zn (Zn-methionine) at recommended level (T2), two (T3), three (T4) and four times (T5) of NRC (1994) recommendations. The results at the end of 6th week showed that carcass characteristics, organ weights and sensory evaluation did not significantly different among dietary treatments. The Fe content was significantly (Pd”0.01) higher in T3 (240 mg/kg Fe-methionine) for breast, thigh, liver and heart and in T4 (360 mg/kg Fe) group for gizzard and minced meat when compared to control group having inorganic Fe (120 mg/kg). The Zn content was significantly higher in T5 for breast and in T4 for thigh, liver and heart. In minced meat the Fe and Zn content was significantly (P<0.01) higher in birds fed with diet consisting 240 mg of Fe/kg and 75 mg of Zn/kg (T4) from Fe-methionine and Zn-methionine in comparison to all other dietary groups. No significant difference was noticed in tibia Fe content. However, Zn concentration in the tibia was highest (Pd”0.01) in T4 (75 mg/kg Zn) group when compared to all other dietary groups. The study revealed that increasing levels of organic iron and zinc up to 240 and 75 mg/kg, respectively, have beneficial effect on iron and zinc enrichment of meat in Japanese quails without affecting the carcass characteristics and sensory attributes.