Appraisal of Dietary Prebiotic Supplementation on Meat Properties and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens After Experimental Infection with Eimeria Species Razieh Partovi 1* , Saeed Seifi 2 , Shohre Alian Samakkhah 1 , Ali Nikpay 3 1. Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran 2. Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran 3. Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran Correspondence Razieh Partovi, Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran Tel: +98 (021) 61117150, Fax: +98 (021) 66933222, Email: dvmr.partovi@ut.ac.ir Received: 2020-12-30 Accepted: 2021-03-13 Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine Volume 15- Issue 03 Original Article Online ISSN: 2252-0554 Abstract BACKGROUND: Prebiotics are non-digestible feed ingredients that improve the immune system. OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to assess the changes caused by the addition of prebiotics to the feed on carcass characteristics and also chemical composition, physical characteristics, color, texture, and fatty acid profile of chicken pectoral muscles containing Eimeria species. METHODS: Forty-one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens were assigned to four treatments, including nega- tive control (NC), positive control (PC), positive medicated with coxidine (COX), and positive medicated with prebiotics (PRE). After 42 days, carcass characteristics of the chickens were recorded, and also physical character- istics, chemical composition, color, texture, and fatty acid analysis of breast meat were determined. RESULTS: Infection with Eimeria species diminished carcass characteristics. PRE had higher final body weight, hot carcass weight, and breast and thigh muscle weights. Drip loss, pH, cooking loss, fat, ash, dry matter, and texture properties of broilers’ breast meat did not show any significant differences among the experimental groups. Dietary supplementation with prebiotics increased the crude protein content of breast meat. Infection with Eimeria species decreased the a-value of breast meat. Dietary supplementation with prebiotics decreased the amount of fatty acids 16:1 and 18:1 and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) compared to NC. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary supplementation with prebiotics is a promising strategy with the potential to compensate for the negative effects of infection with Eimeria spp. on carcass characteristics, protein content, and color of breast meat of broiler chickens. KEYWORDS: Dietary fiber, Eimeria species, Feed, Meat analysis, Poultry products Copyright © 2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- 4.0 International License which permits Share, copy and redistribution of the material in any medium or format or adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. How to Cite This Article Partovi, P ., Seifi, S., Alian Samakkhah, SH., Nikpay, A. (2021). Appraisal of Dietary Prebiotic Supplementation on Meat Prop- erties and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens After Experimental Infection With Eimeria Species. Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 15(3), 346-357. 10.22059/IJVM.2020.303786.1005095