Effects of subclinical Eimeria tenella infection on Pectoralis major muscle in broiler chickens

Figures & data

Table 1. Effect of E. tenella on live weight, caecum histology and selected meat quality parameters.

	9 days pi			16 days pi			Significance
	GrC	Gr1	Gr2	GrC	Gr1	Gr2	Group	Age	Group* age
Live weight, g	1070 ± 49.5	1173 ± 44.9	1105 ± 95.8	1437 ± 304.1	1569 ± 254.7	1581 ± 341.6	ns	≤0.001	ns
Caecal villus height, μm	207^b±95.1	141^d±43.0	106^e±31.5	177^c±52.8	228^a±92.7	185^c±52.8	≤0.001	≤0.001	≤0.001
Breast weight, g	165 ± 3.7	173 ± 5.0	161 ± 10.2	213 ± 3.8	262 ± 22.7	287 ± 17.3	ns	≤0.001	0.030
Number of muscle fibres per 1 mm^2	514 ± 98.9	535 ± 104.8	505 ± 77.0	448 ± 65.8	467 ± 131.9	332 ± 55.9	ns	ns	ns
Cross sectional area, μm^2	1630 ± 649.0	1543 ± 702.0	1279 ± 565.2	1755 ± 788.2	1819 ± 932.5	1861 ± 940.8	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
pH 24	5.90^a±0.2	5.75^ab±0.1	5.84^a±0.2	5.59^c±0.0	5.67^bc±0.0	5.82^a±0.1	ns	0.009	0.020
Colour parameters
L*	52.72 ± 3.3	55.22 ± 2.3	52.74 ± 2.5	49.99 ± 3.8	50.37 ± 4.8	52.35 ± 2.1	ns	0.028	ns
a*	−1.61 ± 0.8	−1.43 ± 0.7	−1.91 ± 0.6	−2.08 ± 0.7	−1.47 ± 0.5	−1.76 ± 1.2	ns	ns	ns
b*	7.71 ± 1.8	9.62 ± 1.1	7.83 ± 1.5	6.28 ± 1.2	7.51 ± 1.2	7.97 ± 1.2	ns	0.037	ns
Cooking loss, %	22.07 ± 3.4	20.55 ± 4.0	20.04 ± 3.5	23.28 ± 1.9	25.47 ± 2.6	26.75 ± 2.2	ns	≤0.001	ns
Fmax, N	30.22 ± 6.5	29.89 ± 8.0	26.02 ± 6.7	35.41 ± 8.5	45.24 ± 26.7	33.87 ± 11.9	0.032	≤0.001	ns

GrC: control group; Gr1: group infected with 5 × 10² oocysts; Gr2: group infected with 1 × 10³ oocysts; L*: lightness; a*: redness; b*: yellowness; F_max: maximum shear force.

^a–eMeans listed in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (p ≤ .05).