Table 5.
Nutritional impacts of zinc and copper in loaded montmorillonite and their triazine hydrazone complexes on the physical muscle quality of weaned V-line rabbits aged 12 weeks.
| Meat Quality | Type of Zn and Cu Supplementation b | SEM | p-Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Zn/CuSO4 | Zn/Cu–Mnt | Zn/Cu–Thz | |||
| pH grade | 5.79 | 5.80 | 5.72 | 5.75 | 0.027 | 0.777 |
| WHC | 88.06 | 88.50 | 90.16 | 88.59 | 1.173 | 0.960 |
| Drip loss (24 h) | 1.99 | 2.20 | 1.63 | 1.60 | 0.105 | 0.065 |
| Drip loss (48 h) | 2.50 ab | 3.07 a | 1.91 b | 2.19 b | 0.175 | 0.029 |
| Cooking loss | 11.81 b | 18.05 a | 12.01 b | 16.01 ab | 1.093 | 0.041 |
| WBSF | 3.85 b | 3.33 b | 4.79 a | 3.32 b | 0.160 | 0.003 |
| Lightness (L*) | 55.21 ab | 56.73 a | 53.21 c | 53.76 bc | 0.449 | 0.007 |
| Redness (a*) | 11.48 | 10.56 | 10.95 | 10.55 | 0.230 | 0.474 |
| Yellowness (b*) | 5.0975 a | 4.8 a | 3.7125 b | 5.18 a | 0.189 | 0.005 |
| Color Chroma (c) | 12.58 | 11.60 | 11.56 | 11.76 | 0.232 | 0.400 |
| Hue angle (h˚) | 24.01 a | 24.46 a | 18.80 b | 26.19 a | 0.899 | 0.006 |
| APC (CFU/g) | 3.58 | 4.00 | 4.28 | 3.88 | 0.137 | 0.409 |
| Staphylococcus CFU/g | 3.31 | 3.95 | 3.60 | 3.27 | 0.123 | 0.137 |
All data are expressed as the mean with SEM in same row; a, b, c letters indicate significant differences between means (p < 0.05). Rabbit sample/group, n = 5. Zn/CuSO4: zinc and copper sulfate; Zn/Cu–Mnt: zinc and copper in loaded montmorillonite; Zn/Cu–Thz: zinc and copper in hydrazone complexes; WHC: water holding capacity; WBSF: Warner–Bratzler shear force; APC: total aerobic plate count.