Commercial Melissa officinalis extract in association with magnesium to improve meat quality

Stress occuring in poultry farming leads to

Lower meat quality

Carcass and meat quality traits are important factors in poultry production, which can lead to important economic losses when they are degraded. One of the main reasons of carcass and meat quality degradation is the stress generated during poultry farming. Indeed, stress is documented to increase aggressiveness leading to negative effects on carcass and meat quality traits. This phenomenon is increased in some stressful events for the birds such as transportation to the slaughterhouse. Therefore, calming the animals could be an interesting solution to reduce the economic losses linked to the carcass and meat quality traits.

Can a Melissa extract supplementation help to

Calm birds naturally?

Melissa officinalis (Lemon balm) has a long history of being used in traditional medicine for its sedative properties. Adding to magnesium which is also well known for its calming effect, lemon balm can be helpful to decrease stress in such conditions. In this context, we evaluate the effect of a combination of lemon balm extract and soluble magnesium supplementation (MOE) on chicken carcass characteristics after transportation, as an indirect marker of animal welfare.

60 000 broilers chicken (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to two groups:

The control group (CTL, n=30 000) fed with standard diet.
The MOE group (MOE, n=30 000) fed with standard diet and supplemented with MOE (1 liter for 1,000 liters of drinking water), 3 days before transportation to the slaughterhouse.

Trials results

Carcass characteristics (skin aspect, hematomas on the wings, hematomas on the breast area, hematomas on the thighs, and injuries on the legs) were evaluated as indicators of poultry welfare. The quantity of categorize A grade of carcass (homogenous color, clear skin, free of any rips, abrasions, and bruises; no fractures of the legs and toes) were also monitored after slaughter.

Results showed that MOE supplementation allow to minimize injuries and decrease marks on chickens compared to the control group. As a result, carcasses of “category A” were 10,4 % higher in the MOE group compared to the CTL group.

These results showed that MOE supplementation can be effective to reduce the effect of stress on animals, probably due to the calming effect of its active compounds.