The effect of green tea and thyme extracts on the quality of chicken meat

The aim of this study was to research the effects of gren tea and thyme extracts on the quality of chicken meat. In this research, two different methods, feeding with extracts (supplemented in drinking water) and mechanical injection, were applied. The research was realized with seven study groups; fed green tea extracts, fed thyme extracts, fed green tea extracts and treated with green tea by mechnical injection; fed thyme extracts and treated with thyme extracts by mechanical injection, only treated with green tea extracts by mechanical injection, only treated with thyme extracts by mechanical injection and control (no supplementation and injection). Broilers were slaughtered on the 42. day of the feeding period and breast meat samples were stored at 4°C. On the 1, 4, 7,10 and 15. days of storage, physical, chemical, textural and sensory analysis were investigated.As the result of the study, altough TBA values of all groups had significant increase during storage, the control groups had the highest scores. Warner-Bratzler shear forces of injection groups were determined higher than other groups, and these results were supported by the sensory analysis scores.In conclusion, both gren tea and thyme extracts fed groups had the lowest microbial counts and TBA values than the groups treated with gren tea and thyme extracts by mechanical injection and the control group. However, similar studies using different extract levels might be beneficial for the quality of chickens.