본 연구는 쑥을 사료에 첨가하여 급여수준(1, 3, 5%)에 따라 4주간 급여한 후 도계하여 흉부와 대퇴부위를 냉장온도(4±1℃)에 4주간 저장하면서 이화학적 특성 및 가공특성에 대한 연구를 수행하였다. pH는 저장기간이 경과하면서 전 처리구에서 유의적으로 상승하였고(p<0.05), 대퇴부위가 흉심부위보다 높았다. 육즙손실과 가열감량은 대조구에 비하여 쑥 첨가구에서 낮은 경향이었고(p<0.05), 보수력은 저장기간이 경과하면서 유의적으로 상승하였다(p<0.05). 육색은 저장기간이 경과하면서 L^＊, a^＊, b^＊ 값이 증가하는 경향을 나타내었다.

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of dietary mugwort on physico-chemical characteristics and processing characteristics in meat sample of chicken meat. Broilers were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments: 1) Control(commercial feed) 2) T1(commercial feed supplemented with 1% mugwort) 3) T2(commercial feed with 3% mugwort) and 4) T3(commercial feed with 5% mugwort). They were fed one of the experimental diets for five weeks and slaughtered. After that, the meat samples were vacuum packaged and stored at 4±1℃. The physico-chemical characteristics and processing characteristics were analyzed for meat samples stored over a period of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks. The pH of all treatments significantly increased during the storage periods(p<0.05). The pH of the thigh was rather higher than that of the breast. The drip loss and heating loss tend to decrease in dietary mugwort group(p<0.05). The WHC(water holding capacity) of all treatment was significantly increased during storage(p<0.05). The meat color was increased during storage.