This study was conducted to evaluate the functional effects of adding oyster shell powder on the quality properties and storage stability of emulsion-type pork sausages to substitute phosphates as a curing agent. Seven treatments were prepared: T1 (Control), T2 (0.3% STPP), T3 (1.5% NaCl), T4 (1.5% NaCl + 0.5% whey protein), T5 (1.5% NaCl + 0.5% whey protein + 0.15% oyster shell powder), T6 (1.5% NaCl + 0.5% whey protein + 0.3% oyster shell powder), and T7 (1.5% NaCl + 0.5% whey protein + 0.5% oyster shell powder). Significant differences were observed for ash in the proximal analysis. Adding 0.5% oyster shell powder significantly increased pH values when compared to the other treatments. Pork sausages with 0.3% oyster shell powder had significantly improved water holding capacity and cooking loss. Adding oyster shell powder (0.15, 0.3, and 0.5%) resulted in significantly higher hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, and chewiness values than those in the other treatments. No significant differences were observed among treatments during 14 d of cold storage at 4 o C.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana bertoni) and charcoal supplementation on growth performance, immune response and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs. A total of 420 pigs (LYD) were randomly allocated into 7 treatments with 3 replications. Dietary treatments were 1) T1 (basal diet), 2) T2 (basal diet+0.3% stevia), 3) T3 (basal diet+0.6% stevia), 4) T4 (basal diet+0.3% charcoal), 5) T5 (basal diet+0.6% charcoal), 6) T6 (basal diet+0.3% stevia+0.3% charcoal) and 7) T7 (basal diet+0.6% stevia+0.6% charcoal). During the experimental period, average daily gain (ADG) was higher in T2 and T6 groups than the other treatments (p<0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was higher in T6 group compared to the others (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in total cholesterol level and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) activity of blood among treatments. In glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) activity, T3, T5, T6 and T7 groups showed lower values (p<0.05) compared to T1. Insulin-like growth factor-1 concentration was higher in T2 and T6 groups than the others (p<0.05), but there were no significant differences in immunoglobulin G, lymphocyte, eosinophil, basophil and atypical lymph levels among treatments. In neutrophil, T6 showed higher level compared to the others (p<0.05). In the carcass characteristics, T6 showed higher level of a carcass grade compared to the other treatments. However, carcass length did not show any significant difference among treatments. As a result, dietary supplementation of 0.3% stevia and 0.3% charcoal showed higher ADG, higher FCR and better immune response resulting in better growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs.

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of feeding complex probiotics (Lactobacillus casei, Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus oryzae, Streptomyces griseus, 1.5×10 1 0 CFU/kg) and antibiotics (oxytetracycline (OTC), 110 ppm) on growth performance and meat quality characteristics of broiler chicks. In the experiment 1, 0.3% complex probiotics feeding level was chosen to be proper addition level due to better average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion (FC) and dressing percent (DP) results among 3 levels (0.1, 0.3 or 0.5%). In the experiment 2, 5 treatments (T1, no probiotics + no antibiotics; T2, probiotics 0.3% + no antibiotics; T3, probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 50%; T4, probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 100%; T5, no probiotics + antibiotics 100%) were investigated. In the growth performance of broilers, T5 (antibiotics 100% only) showed the highest (p<0.05) ADG and FC values while T1 (control) showed the worst growth performance. However, T3 (probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 50%) showed higher ADG (p<0.05), FC (p<0.05) and DP (p>0.05) values compared to control. In the breast and leg meat quality, T3 showed similar pH, proximate composition, cooking loss and meat color values except shear force value compared to T5. Addition of 0.3% probiotics with 50% antibiotics (T3) tended to lower the blood cholesterol levels of broiler chicks and Escherichia coli or Salmonella counts in cecum microflora of broiler chicks compared to T5. In the residual antibiotics analysis, T3 contained 0.04 ppm of residual antibiotics in the breast meat while T4 or T5 contained 0.1 ppm of residual antibiotics and addition of 0.3% probiotics with 50% antibiotics in broiler diets could lower the residual antibiotics level to 40% in the meat. As a result, 0.3% probiotics addition with 50% antibiotics in the broiler diets could be recommended for the production of high quality broiler meat.

We evaluated the effect of adding mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) (0,10,20,30 or 50%) on quality characteristics of chicken sausage. Adding MDCM decreased the protein content of chicken sausage, but ash content increased significantly. Adding MDCM had no effect on pH and water holding capacity of sausage. Adding MDCM increased cooking loss, but did not affect the shear force value of the sausage. Adding MDCM decreased the L-(lightness) and b-(yellowness) values but increased the a-(redness) value of sausage. Adding MDCM decreased the hardness and cohesiveness values, but did not affect the springiness value of chicken sausage. Adding MDCM decreased the juiciness and hardness but increased the flavor and chewiness scores of chicken sausage. Regardless of the MDCM addition level, all chicken sausage contained low residual nitrite ion (<4 ppm). During the 10 d of storage at 4 o C, adding MDCM did not affect total microbial count or TBA values of chicken sausage, but the VBN value of the sausage increased slightly. However, all storage characteristic values in the sausage were within the safety range. Adding MDCM (0, 10 or 20%) to chicken sausage resulted in a finely structured protein matrix under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which indicated a good meat emulsion, but adding MDCM at more than 20% resulted in a very coarse protein matrix structure.