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

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Pathomorphological and meat quality alterations connected with wooden breast in broiler chickens of different genotypes and slaughter ages

This study examined pathomorphological changes and meat quality alterations associated with Wooden Breast Myopathy (WB) in total of 192 broiler chickens divided into Ross 308 (n=96) and Cobb 500 (n=96) heavy hybrids at ages 42, 60, and 70 days. WB occurrence remained consistently high (>73%) across periods, peaking on day 70(83% for Ross, 90% for Cobb). Cobb broilers had better production results and carcass traits parameters after day 42 and day 60 of the experiment (p≤0.05). Genotype did not affect WB occurrence or severity, while slaughter age influenced severe cases WB occurrence, increasing from 11.67% on day 42 to 36.67% on day 70 (p=0.003). The presence of WB was associated with higher ultimate pH, lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) of the muscle (p<0.0001), except on day 70. Physicochemical and color parameters were also influenced by slaughter age (p<0.0001). On day 42, drip loss (p<0.0001), cooking loss (p≤0.05) and shear force (p<0.0001) were affected by genotype. On days 60 and 70, the differences in water retention capacity were observed only between normal and severely affected breasts (p<0.0001). For each slaughter age severely affected WB had higher shear force compared to normal breasts (p<0.0001). Additionally, with the increasing slaughter age of broilers, drip loss, cooking loss, and shear force of the breast meat were increased (p<0.0001). The results obtained regarding the occurrence and severity of WB and its consequent meat quality alterations suggest that extended fattening is not recommended for poultry production.Supplementary material: [https://vet-erinar.vet.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4079

Supplementary data for article: Rajčić, A., Bošković Cabrol, M., Glišić, M., Čobanović, N., Tomović, V., Laudanović, M.,& Nešić, S.. (2024). Pathomorphological and meat quality alterations connected with wooden breast in broiler chickens of different genotypes and slaughter ages. in Acta Veterinaria-Beograd Beograd : Fakultet veterinarske medicine., 74(2), 183-209. https://doi.org/10.2478/acve-2024-0013

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.2478/acve-2024-0013]Related to published version: [https://vet-erinar.vet.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4078