Investigation of diet enriched with medicinal herbs on the sensorial, microbial and shelf-life characteristics of the Japanese quail meat

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of adding thyme and pennyroyal powder in the diet of quail on the microbial and sensorial characteristics, water-holding capacity and color, in fresh meat; furthermore Variations in oxidative and acidity of quail meat during storage in refrigerated condition. For this reason two experiments were undertaken. In the first, 180 quail were randomly assigned to control group (basal diet), and groups that feed with 0.5, 1 and 1.5% thyme powder (%w/w). And in the other trial, treatments were giving to eat 0.5, 1 and 1.5%.of pennyroyal powder (%w/w). The results showed that the addition of thyme or pennyroyal leave's powder in the diet of quail, decrease microbial activity and increases water-holding capacity (p<0.05). Sensory analyses of the samples did not showed significant differences in taste, smell and juicy properties of the samples; while the control had the softest texture and treated fed quail with pennyroyal leaves powders had the hardest texture. In all treatments, oxidation and pH changes during storage could not be explainable. Consequently, this medicinal herbal could be controlled activity of microorganisms and improved water-holding capacity and firmness, and since they had no effect on the color index, sensory properties and oxidation reactions, is a pleasurable alternative instead of antibiotics in feed of quail.