PAPAYA LEAF IMPROVE SPENT DUCKS MEAT QUALITY

22/06/2020 Views : 511

Ni Made Suci Sukmawati

Spent ducks is a female duck that is no longer productive to produce eggs. But in the community, this duck is still popular and widely used as a meat producer. In Bali, the spent ducks are usually processed into betutu ducks that are favored by local and foreign people, so the selling value is quite high ranging from Rp. 70,000,-to 150,000,-per head. Some disadvantages of spent ducks are : flesh hard/alot, smell fishy and red meat colour, so that it has a low quality. The fishy smell in the ducks is caused by the fat contained therein, while the harsh/hard textures are caused by the high levels of collagen in the old duck flesh. Fat content is found in many parts of the skin. As a waterfowl, ducks have thick skin that is caused by the spread of fat underneath. In addition to the fishy smell, fat also negatively affects the health of the consumer because it can caused various diseases like narrowing of blood vessels (atherosclerosis) due to the cholesterol that settes in the walls of blood vessels. This condition will result in Coroner heart disease and many strokes occurring in the community.

            One of the efforts to improve the quality of spent duck meat is by giving papaya leaves on the feed. From the research showed that papaya leaves in the duck feed can lower the fat level, soften the meat and reduce the fishy smell so that the quality of duck meat for better. Moreover, papaya leaves also cause the flesh color to be brighter. Active substances in papaya leaves such as proteolytic papain enzymes are able to break down collagen proteins so that the distance between the muscle fibers becomes more loose, which causes the texture of the meat to be softer and the meat becomes more tender. In addition to the enzyme papain, papaya leaves also contain high coarse fibre so as to reduce the absorption of fat in the gastrointestinal tract because coarse fiber is able to bind fat and secreted with faeces. 

            So, by giving papaya leaves on spent ducks feed in a certain level can improve the quality of duck meat (reduce the fat level, reduce the fishy smell, soften the meat and the color of the meat brighter) so it is more palatable and not disturbing the health of the people who consume the meat.