Dietary resveratrol supplement improves carcass traits and meat quality of Pekin ducks

With the increase of consumer demand for high-quality animal protein, it becomes imperative to improve meat quality through nutritional strategy. Resveratrol is a plant polyphenol that exists in grapes and grape products, and it has been considered as a potential functional feed additive. Here, we aimed to explore the optimal dose of resveratrol in Pekin ducks' diet and its effect on improving meat quality. A total of 432 male Pekin ducks (1-day-old) were selected and randomly allotted to 4 treatment groups, with each group containing 6 replicates. Four different levels of resveratrol were evaluated (0, 150, 300, and 450 mg/kg) for 42 d. The carcass traits, meat quality, and muscle fiber characteristics of Pekin ducks were investigated. Results showed that a*(24h), b*(24h), intramuscular fat, crude protein, total flavor amino acid content of duck breast muscle, and a*(45min) of duck leg muscle were increased (P < 0.05) by resveratrol. Resveratrol also reduced abdominal fat deposition, shear force, L*(45min) of breast muscle and drip loss, shear force, and L*(45min) of leg muscle. In addition, the breast muscle fibers of resveratrol-fed ducks had lower diameter and cross-sectional area and higher density (P < 0.05). Overall, we conclude that dietary resveratrol supplement can effectively improve Pekin duck meat quality, the optimal additional range in diet being 300 to 450 mg/kg. Its underlying mechanism might be partly through stimulation of intramuscular fat and flavor amino deposition and alteration of muscle fiber characteristics.

Automated summary

The study explored the optimal dosage of resveratrol in Pekin ducks' diet and its impact on meat quality. Results showed that resveratrol significantly improved the quality of duck meat by enhancing intramuscular fat and flavor amino acid deposition, while reducing fat deposition and shear force.