Animal Nutrition
Broiler Meat and Carcass Quality: The Critical Role of Mineral Nutrition
To read more content about avinews International December 2025
Animal Nutrition
To read more content about avinews International December 2025
Picture preparing dinner— chicken, once again. When you open a package of chicken breasts, you expect to see plump, pink meat that’s perfectly uniform. Any variation not only ruins the meal but can also have an impact on trust in the brand or retailer behind the product.
Because of the accelerated growth rate of today’s broilers, they are susceptible to several meat and carcass quality issues, including:
Each one of these abnormalities is scored in a rating system based on severity from 0-3 (none-severe).
These meat and carcass quality issues can be caused at all stages of the bird’s life.
At the farm level, the incidence of footpad dermatitis can require additional labor costs to maintain clean and dry bedding resulting in higher quality meat.
In the case of slaughterhouses, the presence of these problems can call into question the yield carcass and breast, the integrity of the skin, the appearance of bruising, or even broken bones in the birds.
Although meat quality issues may affect meat appearance, they do not pose any food safety risks to consumers. However, they can still significantly impact producers’ profitability.
A hypothesis of why this occurs is that broilers with a higher rate of muscle growth have increased metabolic and circulatory requirements, leading to the accumulation of more metabolic waste products, such as oxidative free radicals: Increased oxidative stress damages the DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids in muscle cells, and results in inflammation and degeneration of the birds’ muscle fibers.
One strategy that poultry producers can implement to avoid these problems is to reduce broiler growth rate via dietary restrictions that decrease certain nutrients.
Several studies indicate that highly bioavailable trace elements in the form of bis-chelates can help reduce broiler breast tissue problems by up to 50%.
A trial conducted at the University of Pretoria in South Africa2 revealed that a strategy of replacing inorganic mineral sources with reduced levels of organic trace minerals (as MINTREX® Bis-chelated trace minerals) helped support improved meat quality and footpad health, while allowing heavy broilers to maintain their growth and feed efficiency.
In the study, birds fed bis-chelated copper, manganese, and zinc showed significant improvement in footpad health, resulting in more saleable feet when compared to those fed inorganic mineral sources.
The trial also showed the greatest final mean body weight at 35 days of age, while maintaining a similar feed conversion ratio.
These results show that levels of inorganic copper, manganese, and zinc of 8 mg/kg, 32 mg/kg, and 32 mg/kg, respectively, are insufficient to maintain high carcass yield and low carcass rejection rates in broiler production.
The results suggest that bis-chelated trace elements can be recommended for optimal tissue integrity, as well as for improving footpad health and intestinal strength.
For more information on incorporating bis-chelated trace minerals into broiler diets, visit novusint.com.
ABOUT NOVUS
Helping animals reach their full potential since 1991.
We are a intelligent nutrition company.
Intelligent nutrition is a novel combination of experienced people, insightful perspectives and smarter solutions that allow us to put more into everything we create.
That’s intelligent nutrition.
And we are Novus International. We combine global scientific research with local knowledge to develop advanced and innovative technology that helps protein producers achieve better results.
NOVUS is privately owned by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. Headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri, USA, and serves the livestock industry worldwide.
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