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Effects of Dietary Zinc on Carcass Traits, Meat Quality, Antioxidant Status, and Tissue Zinc Accumulation of Pekin Ducks

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of dietary zinc on carcass traits, meat quality, antioxidant capacity, and tissue zinc accumulation of Pekin ducks. A total of 768 1-day-old Pekin ducks were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments and penned in groups of 16 with 8 pens per treatment. Ducks were fed a basal corn-soybean meal diet supplemented with graded levels of zinc sulfate (0, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240 mg zinc/kg) for 35 days. The slaughter weight, carcass weight, eviscerated weight, and breast and leg muscle weight of Pekin ducks were increased with increasing dietary zinc levels (P < 0.05). Zinc supplementation increased the pH value at 24-h postmortem and the intramuscular fat (IMF) (P < 0.05), but decreased the lightness value, drip loss, and shear force in breast meat of ducks (P < 0.05). Increasing dietary zinc increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), and the content of glutathione (GSH), as well as decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in breast muscle (P < 0.05). RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that supplemental zinc notably enhanced the transcription of SOD, GPX, GR, CAT, and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, zinc accumulation in plasma, breast muscle, liver, and tibia were linearly increased with increasing zinc supplementation (P < 0.05). These results indicated that zinc supplementation could improve carcass traits and meat quality and increase the activities and mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes in breast muscle of Pekin duck. Base on broken-line regression analysis that 91.32 mg/kg of dietary zinc was suggested for optimal carcass traits, meat quality, antioxidant capacity, and zinc deposition of Pekin duck.

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Funding

The present study was financially supported by the Science and Technology Support Program of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2013NZ0054), and the research funding was also provided by Sichuan Longda Animal Husbandry Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (No. 009H2200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Nutrition Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, No 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Min Wen, Hua Zhao, Guangmang Liu, Xiaoling Chen, Gang Tian, Jingyi Cai & Gang Jia

  2. Tibet Vocational Technical College, Lasa, 850000, China

    Min Wen

  3. Chelota Group, Guanghan, 618300, China

    Bing Wu

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  1. Min Wen
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  2. Bing Wu
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  3. Hua Zhao
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Correspondence to Gang Jia.

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Wen, M., Wu, B., Zhao, H. et al. Effects of Dietary Zinc on Carcass Traits, Meat Quality, Antioxidant Status, and Tissue Zinc Accumulation of Pekin Ducks. Biol Trace Elem Res 190, 187–196 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-018-1534-4

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