The paper presents the study on an impact of feed additives Peak anti-stress and SPAO (SPAO-complex) with different lithium content on meat productivity and meat quality of broiler chickens. The feed additives exert a pronounced metabolic effect, have adaptogen properties and allow forming a mechanism that facilitates compensation of the expenditure of the body, which significantly increases upon stress development. It was established that the average daily gain of the broiler chickens increased by 1.8% and 4.3% on the background of using SPAO-complex and Peak anti-stress, respectively, compared to the broiler chickens that did not receive the feed additives in the daily diet. It was shown that addition of feed additives with lithium into a diet led to an improvement of the indices of broiler meat productivity and meat quality: a level of yield of the carcasses of the 1st category increased up to 56.2–79.1%, high organoleptic indices of meat were ensured, the protein content in white and red chicken meat increased and functional-technological properties of minced meat improved. The use of feed additives ensured profitability of industrial poultry production; the highest indices of profitability were established upon introduction of the feed additive Peak anti-stress into a diet — up to 8.67 rubles per each ruble of expenses. The obtained results of the study should be taken into consideration in the technological processes when raising broiler chickens.

Biologically active peptides (BAP) are regarded as the main products of protein hydrolysis. BAP activity depends on the amino acid sequence molecular weight and chain length, type and charge of an amino acid at the N-terminus and C-terminus, hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties, spatial structure. They positively influence many systems of the human body, including the blood circulatory, nervous, immune, gastrointestinal and other systems. The health-improving effect of bioactive peptides is formed due to their antioxidant, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-allergic, opioid, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic and anticancer properties. Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides are most studied due to their effect on blood pressure regulation. Unlike synthetic preparations, biologically active peptides do not have side effects and, therefore, can be used as their alternative. There is a growing commercial interest in peptides generated from meat proteins is in the context of health saving functional foods. The paper describes prospects, pros and cons of using bioactive peptides as functional food ingredients and biologically active food additives.

The use of molecular genetic markers for productivity is one of the modern approaches in breeding beef cattle. The article presents the results of the studies on the influence of genotypes by the calpain (CAPN1) and growth hormone (GH) genes on live weight, fatty acid composition of blood plasma, quantitative and qualitative indicators of meat of young cattle of Kazakh white-headed breed. It was established that animals of the homozygous geno-types СС–CAPN1 and VV-GH had a larger live weight and its average daily gain on the 240th and 365th days. Their superiority over the GG and LL genotypes was 13.8% (P<0.05) and 6.9%; 14.6% (P<0.05) and 6.9%, respectively. The carriers of the desirable alleles in the homozygous state had the sum of unsaturated fatty acids higher by 6.3% and 7.1%, respectively, than the young bulls, in which genotypes they were absent. The predominance of unsaturated fatty acids over saturated fatty acids also determined lower values of lipid me-tabolism direction index (0.92 and 1.00) in the animals with the desirable genotype. Muscle tissue of animals of the СС and VV genotypes was characterized by a higher level of protein, fat by 0.28–2.13 abs. per cent, energy value, and the quantity of muscle fibers with a smaller diameter per unit area compared to the GG and LL genotypes by on average 8.7% and 25.5% (P<0.01). Due to the greater number of interfiber fat inclusions, muscle tissue of the desirable genotypes received higher marbling scores. The obtained data testify to the prospects of replication of animals, which genotype has the desirable alleles for further improvement of traits of meat productivity of Kazakh white-headed breed.

Recently, there has been a growing demand for healthy processed foods, such as comminuted or gel-type meat and fish products with reduced content of salt (sodium chloride), phosphate (sodium phosphate) and/or fat, while maintaining their texture and quality characteristics. As know, a high intake of dietary sodium is associated with cardiovascular diseases and strokes. On the other hand, high phosphate intake has a potential health risk, especially with regard to bone metabolism, cardiovascular and kidney diseases. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) technology has been recognized as a useful method for successfully reducing salt, phosphate and/or fat content in processed muscle products. The texture, yield and organoleptic properties of products are closely related to the structure and functionality of myofibrillar proteins (MP). Application of moderate high hydrostatic pressure at 100–200 MPa has been successfully used to increase the functionality of myofibrillar proteins by modifying the structure due to denaturation, solubilization, aggregation or gelation. The ability to reduce sodium content and achieve a high binding and water retention using this technology is an important task for the production of healthy food products.

The aim of the research was to establish an effect of gas stunning of pigs at slaughter on the condition of the internal organs and pork functional-technological characteristics. The experiment was carried out in the conditions of the operating enterprise on 37 Large White pigs. When using 94% concentration in a chamber, only 65% of animals were assessed as normally stunned, 30% of animals did not have cardiac activity and were considered dead, 5% of animals retained sensibility. Assessment of the condition of the internal organs, dynamics of pH changes, comparison of moisture holding capacity and color characteristics did not reveal substantial and statistically significant differences between slaughter products from normally stunned animals and animals died during stunning. The authors discuss mortality of animals before the beginning of bleeding as a possible cause of similar results of investigation of the internal organs and meat quality from animals with and without cardiac activity after gas stunning.

The paper examines the problem of meat raw material curing in production of whole-piece meat products. The intensification methods for the process of penetration and distribution of curing ingredients throughout a product are described. Design of the equipment for meat tenderization URM-1 and URMP-1 is proposed, which ensure electrohydraulic tenderization of the structure of whole-piece (1500–2000 g) and portioned (80–120 g) meat semi-finished products and accelerate a process of brine distribution, which will allow reducing product strength characteristics by 51–53 kg/cm, reducing raw material losses, increasing labor productivity by 8–11%, shortening the duration of the technological process and reducing energy expenditure upon heat treatment by 18–20%. As a result of the experimental investigations, it was established that an electrohydraulic impact (frequency of pulses v = 0.5–1.0 pulse/sec., number of pulses from 150 to 200) can be used for tenderization of muscle connective tissue and tendons both of chilled (core temperature of 0 °C to 4 °C) and subfrozen (–2 °C to 3 °C) meat.