Physico-chemical composition and sensory analysis of female broiler breast meat of local Anadolu-T and commercial genotypes slaughtered at different ages

This study was made to compare the physico-chemical meat quality properties, and sensory attributes of broiler meat of local Anadolu-T and commercial genotypes slaughtered at different ages. A total of 150 d-old female chicks were randomly assigned to three groups with five replicates each. The breast meat samples from each genotype were collected randomly after slaughter at 37 and 44 d of age. Breast meat proximal composition of pectoralis major was determined, as well as the sensory analysis using a 9-point hedonic scale. The effects of slaughter age were found to be significant for meat pH ( P =0.003), lightness ( P =0.001), redness ( P =0.018), yellowness ( P <0.001) and chrome ( P <0.001) color characteristics. Shear force values increased significantly with the slaughter age ( P <0.001). The breast meat of Cobb 500 had significantly the greatest meat pH ( P <0.01), yellow/blue coordinate ( P =0.015) and color intensity-chroma ( P =0.003) values, whereas the breast meat of Anadolu-T had significantly the greatest lightness ( P =0.018), and the lowest yellow/blue coordinate ( P =0.015) and color intensity-chrome values ( P =0.015). Slaughter age and genotype significantly affected the moisture ( P <0.001) and protein level ( P =0.002) of meat. Breast meat samples of the Ross 308 genotype had a significantly greater cooking loss value ( P =0.007). There were no significant differences for all sensory characteristics among the samples obtained from all genotypes. In conclusion it can be said that the genotype and slaughter age play crucial roles in determining the proximate composition, meat color and sensory characteristics of broiler breast meat. The local Turkish genotype, Anadolu-T , seems to exhibit competitive meat quality compared to commercial broiler strains.