## 3 Results and Discussion
### Lipid Oxidation Using TBARS Method  
There were no significant variations (\(p\) > 0.05) regarding the TBARS values at the beginning of the storage time (Table 2) across all treatments. Low TBARS values on day 0 are very common in several research studies evaluating cooked meat [1; 2; 33]. On the fourth day of storage, however, all treatment additives (oregano oil and BHA inclusion in _Aloe vera_ gel) showed a significant antioxidant (\(p\) < 0.05) effect in comparison to the control. Both oregano oil (OR-S and OR-V) sources exhibited higher numerical antioxidant activity than the synthetic ones. The main antioxidant activity of oregano essential oil is due to phenolic compounds such as thymol and carvacrol [14; 15; 34; 35; 36]. Several studies have reported that the presence of a high content of hydroxyl groups (-OH) surrounding the structure of the benzene ring of its polyphenols causes this antioxidant effect. This gives the oregano oil a high capacity to donate \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**TRT \({}^{*}\)**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Proximate Analysis**} \\ \cline{2-7}  & **Cooking Loss \%** & **Fat \%** & **Protein \%** & **Water \%** & **Ash \%** & **U-pH \({}^{2}\)** \\ \hline Control & 0.195 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.428 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 19.240 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 73.418 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.915 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 5,819 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ OR-S & 0.187 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.353 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 19.320 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 73.415 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.913 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 5.820 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ OR-V & 0.191 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.380 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 19.398 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 73.308 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.915 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 5.825 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ BHA & 0.189 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.405 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 19.303 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 73.383 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.910 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 5.815 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ \hline SEM \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 0.010 & 0.055 & 0.058 & 0.077 & 0.023 & 0.029 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{\dagger}\) pA: proximate analysis of fresh thigh meat before cooking. \({}^{2}\) U-pH: ultimate pH. \({}^{*}\) Treatments: Control; 300 ppm of OR-S; 300 ppm of OR-V; 14 ppm of butylated hydroxynisole. n = 4. SEM \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\): standard error of means. \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) No significant differences were found among treatment means.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Cooking loss, pA \({}^{1}\), and U-pH \({}^{2}\) values of all ground thigh meat treatments. hydrogen atoms to the free radicals and prevent or delay the initiation reaction of lipid oxidation [34; 37; 38]. However, the OR-S essential oil had a slightly higher antioxidant effect than OR-V on day 4. In addition, by the end of the storage time (day 8), OR-S exhibited the greatest significant (\(p\) < 0.05) effect among all treatments. The superior antioxidant effect of OR-S compared to OR-V could be due to the differences in the content of thymol, carvacrol, and other constituents. This unique mixture of phenolic compounds in _Origanum syriacum_ L. essential oil (OR-S) was more effective in combination with _Aloe vera_ gel, and this maximized its antioxidant activity. In addition, no statistically significant variations (\(p\) > 0.05) were observed between the inclusion of OR-V and BHA throughout the storage duration. According to the current findings, OR-S (based on the TBARS value) works well as a natural antioxidant alternative, especially if it is incorporated with _Aloe vera_ gel. This result not only shows the superior effect of OR-S but also indicates that _Aloe_ gel successfully enhances the effect of OR-S. The unique effect of OR-S has many explanations; however, the interaction between the polyphenol components of both oregano oils and _Aloe_ gel could be the most important cause of this effect. In addition, the mechanism of how these antioxidant ingredients interact is not yet understood.