Does slaughter age affect the health and nutritional values of broiler breast muscle?

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of age of chickens at slaughter on meat chemical composition, color, pH, water holding capacity, cooking yield and shear-force. In this study, male Ross ۳۰۸ broilers were used as a model and ۸۰ commercially raised broilers were slaughtered randomly at ۲۸, ۳۲, ۳۶ and ۴۲ days of age (۲۰ birds per period) and immediately after slaughter were transferred to the laboratory and stored at ۴°C for ۱۲ hours. The results showed that the moisture and fat content of breast meat did not change significantly with increasing slaughter age, but the protein and ash content increased with increasing slaughter age (P<۰.۰۵). The pH of breast meat was significantly higher in the highest slaughter age group, ۴۲ days of age, compared to other slaughter age groups. The water-holding capacity of breast meat at slaughter age of ۲۸ days showed relatively low values compared to other ages, and the ۳۲ and ۳۶-day groups showed relatively higher water-holding capacity. The cooking yield of breast meat at ۳۲ and ۳۶ days of age was significantly higher than that at ۲۸ and ۴۲ days of age, respectively. The shear-force of breast meat at ۲۸ days of age was significantly lower compared to other ages, while no significant difference was observed between ۳۲, ۳۶ and ۴۲ days of age. The slaughter age did not significantly affect the brightness and yellowness of breast meat, but the redness increased (P<۰.۰۵). Therefore, this study recommends optimizing the quality of minced meat at ۳۲ and ۳۶ days of age based on general slaughter days.

کلیدواژه ها:

breast meat ، chemical composition ، shear-force ، cooking yield ، meat pH