Minimising woody breast in broiler meat

Abstract

International audienceLately, poultry industry is facing the emergence of meat quality defects linked to a loss of muscle tissue integrity. These phenomena are all the more frequent as the animals are fast growing and have high pectoral muscle yields. The most known defects are White Striping, Wooden Breast and Spaghetti Muscle. The Wooden Breast is characterized by abnormal muscle stiffness and loss of elasticity that corresponds to an extension of the extracellular matrix leading to fibrosis and to a lesser extent adiposis. Breeders and more broadly chicken farmers are waiting for genetic, nutritional or management solutions to reduce the incidence of these defects that appeared less than 10 years ago but their incidence in slaughterhouses is growing very rapidly. Until now, only dietary strategies limiting animal growth and muscle development or the use of less productive strains have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of myodegenerative defects in slaughterhouses, thereby affecting the costs of production.In this context, it is urgent to understand the biological processes at the origin of myodegenerative defects in chickens to develop genetic or breeding solutions to reduce their impact in slaughterhouses. It is well established that the quality of broiler meat is under a complex control including genetics, rearing and slaughter factors. These factors influence the way muscle develop and therefore its chemical composition, cellular pattern and metabolism (pre and post-mortem) which are all involved in the determinism of meat technological and sensory quality. Recent studies have used high-throughput omics approaches, such as genomics or metabolomics, to unravel the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of meat quality traits. These studies aimed at determining genes or molecular pathways to be targeted by either genetic selection or rearing practices to decrease the incidence of meat quality defects in poultry production. A direct application for poultry production is the development of genetic or biological markers useful for selecting breeders with a high meat quality potential. The identification of pertinent biological markers, such as blood metabolites, can also help to build predictive models to optimize the quality of poultry meat in relation to several rearing or nutritional factors. This review aims to present recent advances in the understanding of biological control of meat quality including myodegenerative defect Wooden Breast