Wooden Breast, White Striping and Spaghetti Meat: Chemical Composition, Technological Quality, Microbiological Profile and Sensory Attributes of Broiler Breasts

Poultry meat is consumed worldwide and its production is expected to increase in the up‑coming years. Genetic selection in poultry focused on growth rate, feed conversion, and breast yield, resulting in the occurrence of white striping and wooden breast abnormalities and, most recently, spaghetti meat. These myopathies affect the quality traits of raw meat, including pH, color, water holding capacity, and cooking loss, which limit its further processing and decrease consumer acceptance. Additionally, the effects of myopathies on the chemical composition, i.e., reduced protein and essential amino acid content and increased fat contents, impair to some extent the nutritional value of the mea

Nutritional and Feeding Strategies for Controlling Breast Muscle Myopathy Occurrence in Broiler Chickens: A Survey of the Published Literature

Myopathies of the breast muscle in broiler chickens are a great concern of modern poultry production because of the economic losses associated with the waste of unfit meat, the effects on meat nutritional quality for food and on meat technological quality for processing, and last, but not less important, the effects on animal welfare and health. Largely spread in fast‑growing genotypes, these muscle defects have a low hereditability for which genetic selection for their control seems to be a weak strategy or, at least, a weak long‑term strategy. On the other hand, several investigations have been performed on the physiological mechanisms triggering the onset and the evolution of myopathies, and different non‑genetic strategies have been proposed to control their in vivo occurrence. Thus, the present paper aimed to analyse the scientific literature investigating the effects of feeding and nutritional strategies on the occurrence of myopathies to find out the most tested strategies, the most promising ones and, in perspective, strengths and weakness of the same strategies

CHLORELLA VULGARIS MICROALGAE AS A SUSTAINABLE FEED INGREDIENT EFFECTS ON MEAT QUALITY AND MYOPATHY OCCURRENCE IN BROILER CHICKENS

CHLORELLA VULGARIS MICROALGAE AS A SUSTAINABLE FEED INGREDIENT: EFFECTS ON MEAT QUALITY AND MYOPATHY OCCURRENCE IN BROILER CHICKENS is a conference paper presented at the 69th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST) held in Padova (Italy) from the 20th to the 25th of August 2023. The present study found that dietary Chlorella vulgaris microalgae are a useful strategy to manipulate breast meat color, while higher inclusion rates in diets improve the n-3 fatty acids content in breast meat. The impact of C. vulgaris on myopathies in broilers is not evident, but some differences in the gross examination in WB rate between birds fed the control diet and the diet with 6% m highlight the need for further investigation

Effect of light restriction on productive results and behavior of broiler chickens

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of light restriction (18L:6D vs. 14L:10D), genotype (A vs. B), and sex on performance, behavior, and meat quality, and the occurrence of wooden breast (WB) and white striping (WS) in broiler chickens. To this purpose 800 one-day-old chickens of two genotypes, half males and half females, were reared from hatching until slaughtering at 45 d of age in 32 collective pens (25 chickens per pen). Light restriction reduced growth rate and final live weight (LW), but improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.01) and reduced inactive behaviors of chickens (P < 0.001). Light restriction also reduced WS occurrence in breasts (89.5% to 64.6%; P < 0.001) and reduced meat shear force (2.64 to 2.20 kg/g; P < 0.05) and ether extract content (2.29% to 1.87%; P < 0.05). Regarding genotype, compared to genotype B, chickens of genotype A were heavier (3242 g vs. 3124 g; P < 0.01) with higher cold carcass weight and Pectoralis major muscle yield (12.9% vs. 12.0%; P < 0.001) and a higher FCR (1.63 vs. 1.61; P < 0.01). Finally, females had lower final LW (2852 g vs. 3513 g) and higher FCR (1.64 vs. 1.59) than males (P < 0.001), but a higher proportion of breast and P. major (P < 0.001), lower cooking losses (P < 0.001) and shear force (P < 0.01), and higher protein content (21.6% vs. 20.7%; P < 0.001). In conclusion, light restriction depressed growth, but was effective in decreasing WS occurrence and improved feed conversion. The decrease in inactive behaviors (sitting/laying) of light-restricted chickens can be positively considered in view of animal welfare

Dietary inclusion of Chlorella vulgaris and heat-stress in broiler chickens: effects on growth performance and product quality of broiler chickens

This work, in the form of an abstract, on the effect of dietary inclusion of Chlorella vulgaris and heat-stress in broiler chickens on growth performance and product quality of broiler chickens was presented at the XIXth European Symposium on the Quality of Eggs and Egg Products XXVth European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat - Abstract Book

The Effects of Sunflower and Maize Crop Residue Extracts as a New Ingredient on the Quality Properties of Pork Liver Pâtés

The present study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of ethanolic extracts from post-harvest sunflower and maize stalk residues, and their impact on the chemical composition, physicochemical parameters, lipid oxidative stability, microbiological properties, and sensory characteristics of pork liver pâtés over a 90-day storage period. Four formulations were prepared: a control group (CON), a batch with butylated hydroxytoluene as a synthetic antioxidant (BHT), 1% ethanolic extract from sunflower residues (SSRE), and 1% ethanolic extract from maize residues (MSRE). The MSRE had a higher total phenol content and showed better antioxidant activity relative to the SSRE (p < 0.01). The addition of SSRE decreased the lightness and increased the redness in the pork liver pâtés, with these pâtés showing the highest total color difference compared to the control (p < 0.01). The crop extracts increased the n-6 and total PUFA contents in pâtés and improved the PUFA/SFA ratio (p < 0.01). Formulations containing crop residue extracts showed higher TBARs and POV values than the control and BHT group (p < 0.01), indicating a pro-oxidant effect and accelerated lipid oxidation in pâtés during storage. As far as microbiological quality, the presence of crop residue extracts decreased the total viable count, lactic acid bacteria, and psychotropic aerobic bacteria (p < 0.01). The incorporation of crop extracts in the pork pâtés impaired their sensory quality, particularly color, odor, aroma, and flavor, and decreased their overall acceptability. These results indicated that, while the crop residue extracts were not as effective as synthetic antioxidants in preserving the lipid stability of pâtés, they demonstrated potential for enhancing the microbial quality of this type of meat product

Effect of light restriction on productive results and behavior of broiler chickens

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of light restriction (18L:6D vs. 14L:10D), genotype (A vs. B), and sex on performance, behavior, and meat quality, and the occurrence of wooden breast (WB) and white striping (WS) in broiler chickens. To this purpose 704 one-day-old chickens of 2 genotypes, half males and half females, were reared from hatching until slaughtering at 45 d of age in 32 collective pens (22 chickens per pen). Light restriction reduced growth rate and final live weight (LW), but improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P < 0.01) and reduced inactive behaviors of chickens (P < 0.001). Light restriction also reduced WS occurrence in breasts (89.5 to 64.6%; P < 0.001) and reduced meat shear force (2.64 to 2.20 kg/g; P < 0.05) and ether extract content (2.29 to 1.87%; P < 0.05). Regarding genotype, compared to genotype B, chickens of genotype A were heavier (3,242 g vs. 3,124 g; P < 0.01) with higher cold carcass weight and Pectoralis major muscle yield (12.9 vs. 12.0%; P < 0.001) and a higher FCR (1.63 vs. 1.61; P < 0.01). Finally, females had lower final LW (2,852 g vs. 3,513 g) and higher FCR (1.64 vs. 1.59) than males (P < 0.001), but a higher proportion of breast and P. major (P < 0.001), lower cooking losses (P < 0.001) and shear force (P < 0.01), and higher protein content (21.6 vs. 20.7%; P < 0.001). In conclusion, light restriction depressed growth, but was effective in decreasing WS occurrence and improved feed conversion. The decrease in inactive behaviors (sitting/laying) of light-restricted chickens can be positively considered in view of animal welfare

Effect of addition of sunflower and maize crop residue extract on physicochemical and microbial properties of pork liver pâté

Book of abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS FROM WHEAT, SUNFLOWER AND MAIZE CROP RESIDUES

Large quantities of agricultural residues are generated every year. Most of the crop-based residues are underutilized, mainly left to decay on the land or to be burnt, which can lead to an increase in a load of environmental pollution. Considering this, different strategies have been developed to use these renewable resources as raw materials for the production of bioactive compounds, their isolation and characterization, and potential application in a wide range of fields, particularly in the food industry as natural preservatives. In this study, the antibacterial efficacy of wheat, sunflower, and maize crop residue ethanolic extracts against six bacterial strains (Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica) was evaluated by the broth microdilution method. Used extracts inhibited the growth of selected microorganisms with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 320 μg/mL for most of the tested bacteria. L. monocytogenes showed a MIC value of 640 μg/mL for wheat ethanolic extract, and the MIC value of sunflower ethanolic extract for S. Typhimurium was 160 μg/mL. There were no minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values for any of the bacteria within the extract’s concentration ranges tested (≤ 2560 μg/mL). The results of the present study indicate that crop residue ethanolic extracts could exhibit bacteriostatic effect and therefore have the potential as natural additives in food preservation

Biosecurity and Lairage Time versus Pork Meat Quality Traits in a Farm–Abattoir Continuum

The modern pig production chain is increasingly focused on biosecurity, quality, and safety of meat and is associated with many challenges impacting world meat markets, such as animal disease outbreaks and sanitary restrictions, trade regulations and quality requirements. To overcome such challenges and assure more consistent pork meat quality (and safety), there is a need to develop an effective and reliable monitoring system in a farm–abattoir continuum that can be based on selected biomarkers. This study assessed interrelations of selected stress and inflammation biomarkers (acute phase proteins (APP)) between farm biosecurity score versus pork meat quality traits after two different lairage periods. Briefly, the maximum recorded levels of stress hormones (436.2 and 241.2 ng/mL, for cortisol and Chromogranin A (CgA), respectively) and APP (389.4 and 400.9 μg/mL, Pig Major Acute Proteins (MAP) and Haptoglobin (Hp), respectively) at four commercial farms were within the recommended threshold values. Cortisol and APP were negatively correlated to the internal and total biosecurity scores of farms. The increase of level of both sets of biomarkers was found at bleeding (after transportation and lairage period), but with lower values after long (18–20 h) versus short (1–3 h) lairage lay-over time. In general, negative correlation was confirmed between stress and inflammation biomarkers and carcass/meat quality traits. The farm total biosecurity level significantly affected chilling yield, meat temperature, and a* value. Pig-MAP emerged as a good biomarker with a promising potential for assessment and anticipation of broad aspects in the pork meat chain. It can be used for detection of failures in the pig production system and might be incorporated in certification programs for the pork meat industry.Supplementary material: [https://vet-erinar.vet.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2584