Carcass characteristics
The results of the present study revealed
that the addition of 100-300 mg/kg of TRE had
no significant effect on dressing percentage,
eviscerated percentage, or thigh muscle
weight. However, these results also indicated
that TRE supplementation to the diets of
Wenchang broilers increased breast muscle
weight and reduced the abdominal fat ratio.
Similar to our findings on carcass yield,
Mehala and Moorthy (2008) failed to observe
any significant impact of turmeric powder (10
g/kg of diet) on carcass percentage of broiler
chickens reared to 42 days of age. Also, there
were discrepancies among various reports.
Durrani et al. (2006) indicated higher dressing
percentage, as well as breast and thigh
weights of broilers fed a diet containing 5 g/kg
of turmeric powder. This discrepancy could be
due to the different levels of curcumin (from
different turmeric species) in the diet and the
use of different broiler breeds. In the present
study, the curcumin content of TRE was 86%,
while previous studies reported that the curcumin content of turmeric harvested at different growth ranges and from different regions
varied from 0.25% to 3.14% (Reema et al.,
2006; Asghari et al., 2009). Wenchang chickens
have slower growth rates and longer marketing