Effect of Amniotic Injection of N-Carbamylglutamate on Meat Quality of Broilers

The current study was performed to determine the influence of amniotic injection of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on meat quality of pectoral muscle in broilers. A total of 792 alive broiler embryos at 17 d of incubation were assigned to three treatments randomly (non-injected control, saline-injected control, or NCG-injected treatment). The two injection treatments were an injection with 0.1 mL 0.85% aseptic saline alone or containing 2 mg NCG per egg at 17.5 d of incubation. After hatching, 72 healthy male chicks were selected from each treatment and housed in six pens for a 42 day feeding study. Pectoral muscles from six 42-day-old broilers were collected from each treatment group and were dissected for meat quality assays. The results showed that arginine contents in pectoral muscle in either free or hydrolytic form in the NCG group were higher than those in the non-injection control group (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In comparison to the non-injection or saline-injection control groups, NCG injection resulted in a lower lactic acid content in pectoral muscle (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Muscular antioxidant capacity in the NCG group was higher, as evidenced by the higher activity of catalase and glutathione peroxidase and lower content of malondialdehyde (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In addition, the group of in ovo administration of NCG had decreased drip loss and increased crude fat content in pectoral muscle in comparison to those of either control group (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and had enhanced crude protein content compared to that of the saline-injection control group (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Briefly, these results indicate that amniotic administration of NCG in the late incubation phase increased the arginine content, improved the nutritional properties, enhanced the antioxidant capacity, and improved the meat quality in the pectoral muscle of broilers. Amniotic injection of NCG may serve as a novel approach to improving the meat quality of broilers.