EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STUNNING ON BROILERS CARCASSES QUALITY

Abstract

This study has been carried out to investigate the effect of electrical stunning on quality of broiler carcasses .The experiment was conducted in the processing plant of the Arab Poultry Production and Processing Company (ARAPPCO), south of Khartoum. The experiment has been done on eighty broilers of the same strain (Ross308) and age. The birds were divided evenly into four treatment groups. The treatments include an electrical stunning current of 0mA, 25mA,35 mA and 45mA. The observed effects of the electrical stunning on the apparent characteristics of the slaughtered broilers include: red wing tips, red tail, red feather tract on breast and wings, broken bones, wing veins engorgement, feather on wings and tail, physical activity after stunning and blood spots on breast meat, in addition to the determination of the blood loss percentage and the pH of the hot breast meat. The results showed that the physical activity of the stunned birds were significantly (P<0.05) and progressively reduced by the increasing dose of the stunning current.In terms of carcass quality, the higher doses of the stunning current although significantly reduced the blood spots of the breast muscles which subsequently leads to enhancement of carcass quality, they increased the presence of feathers on wings and tails which are accounted against the carcass quality, whereas the other characteristics did not record any significant differences (P>0.05) among them. From the obtained results the effect of electrical stunning on breast meat pH was noted, but the blood loss percentage was not affected by the treatments.