Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens
The focus on selecting broilers for rapid growth rates and enhanced breast muscle yield has resulted in a decline in meat quality. The differences in carcass characteristics and meat quality between Hubbard white broilers (HWs, a commercial breed) and Xueshan chickens (XSs, an indigenous breed) at m...
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2025-07-01
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| author | Fan Li Xingyu Zhang Jiajia Yu Jiaxue Yuan Yuanfeng Zhang Huiting He Qing Ma Yinglin Lu Xiaoe Xiang Minli Yu |
| author_facet | Fan Li Xingyu Zhang Jiajia Yu Jiaxue Yuan Yuanfeng Zhang Huiting He Qing Ma Yinglin Lu Xiaoe Xiang Minli Yu |
| author_sort | Fan Li |
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| description | The focus on selecting broilers for rapid growth rates and enhanced breast muscle yield has resulted in a decline in meat quality. The differences in carcass characteristics and meat quality between Hubbard white broilers (HWs, a commercial breed) and Xueshan chickens (XSs, an indigenous breed) at market age were analyzed to determine the potential mechanisms responsible for these differences. The results show that HWs exhibited significantly better carcass performance than XSs, including the larger weight of the carcass, the breast muscle, and the thigh muscle (<i>p</i> < 0.01). In addition, based on HE staining analysis, HWs’ breast muscles had a considerably larger average myofiber area and diameter than those of XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Furthermore, the physical characteristics of the meat revealed that XSs had higher redness and yellowness and also higher lightness. HW meat had a higher pH and thermal loss, but a lower shear force and drip loss than XS meat (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The content of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was, remarkably, lower in the breast muscles of HWs than of XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). In contrast, HWs had a larger concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) than XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Finally, the breast muscles of XSs had lower levels of mRNA expression for genes linked to lipid metabolism, such as fatty acid binding protein 4 (<i>Fabp4</i>) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (<i>Pparα</i>), and had higher levels of the phosphofructokinase muscle type (<i>Pfkm</i>) compared to HWs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). These results indicate that a lower carcass yield was observed in XSs compared with HWs, but that XSs showed better performance in terms of meat quality than HW. |
| format | Article |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
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| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj-art-a266c4ddd55e4daea9f19cfe11710bf82025-08-20T02:45:42ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152025-07-011514209910.3390/ani15142099Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan ChickensFan Li0Xingyu Zhang1Jiajia Yu2Jiaxue Yuan3Yuanfeng Zhang4Huiting He5Qing Ma6Yinglin Lu7Xiaoe Xiang8Minli Yu9Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaDepartment of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, ChinaThe focus on selecting broilers for rapid growth rates and enhanced breast muscle yield has resulted in a decline in meat quality. The differences in carcass characteristics and meat quality between Hubbard white broilers (HWs, a commercial breed) and Xueshan chickens (XSs, an indigenous breed) at market age were analyzed to determine the potential mechanisms responsible for these differences. The results show that HWs exhibited significantly better carcass performance than XSs, including the larger weight of the carcass, the breast muscle, and the thigh muscle (<i>p</i> < 0.01). In addition, based on HE staining analysis, HWs’ breast muscles had a considerably larger average myofiber area and diameter than those of XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Furthermore, the physical characteristics of the meat revealed that XSs had higher redness and yellowness and also higher lightness. HW meat had a higher pH and thermal loss, but a lower shear force and drip loss than XS meat (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The content of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was, remarkably, lower in the breast muscles of HWs than of XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). In contrast, HWs had a larger concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) than XSs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Finally, the breast muscles of XSs had lower levels of mRNA expression for genes linked to lipid metabolism, such as fatty acid binding protein 4 (<i>Fabp4</i>) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (<i>Pparα</i>), and had higher levels of the phosphofructokinase muscle type (<i>Pfkm</i>) compared to HWs (<i>p</i> < 0.01). These results indicate that a lower carcass yield was observed in XSs compared with HWs, but that XSs showed better performance in terms of meat quality than HW.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/14/2099broilercarcass traitmeat qualitylipid metabolism genenative breed |
| spellingShingle | Fan Li Xingyu Zhang Jiajia Yu Jiaxue Yuan Yuanfeng Zhang Huiting He Qing Ma Yinglin Lu Xiaoe Xiang Minli Yu Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens Animals broiler carcass trait meat quality lipid metabolism gene native breed |
| title | Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens |
| title_full | Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens |
| title_short | Analysis of Carcass and Meat Characteristics in Breast Muscle Between Hubbard White Broilers and Xueshan Chickens |
| title_sort | analysis of carcass and meat characteristics in breast muscle between hubbard white broilers and xueshan chickens |
| topic | broiler carcass trait meat quality lipid metabolism gene native breed |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/14/2099 |
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