Meat quality and Raman spectroscopic characterization of Korat hybrid chicken obtained from various rearing periods

Abstract

Meat quality attributes vary with chicken age. Understanding the relationship between poultry age and the quality of the meat would be beneficial for efficient poultry farming to meet market needs. The Korat hybrid chicken (KC) is a new crossbred chicken whose meat quality is distinct from that of commercial broiler (CB) chickens and has not been well characterized. In this study, we characterized the physico-chemical properties of KC meat and correlate the findings with Raman spectral data. The protein content of KC breast and thigh meat increased with age. The pH of thigh meat decreased, while the water-holding capacity of breast meat increased as the age of the chickens increased. The amount of cholesterol in breast meat decreased as the rearing period was extended. Inosine 5'-monophosphate and guanosine 5'-monophosphate of breast meat decreased as KC grew older. The shear force values of meat from older birds increased concomitantly with an increase in total collagen. Principle component analysis revealed that the meat quality of CB was greatly different from that of KC meat. High shear force values of KC meat at 20 wk of age were well correlated with an increase in the β-sheet structure (amide I) and amide III of collagen. Raman spectra at 3,207 cm^-1 and relative α-helical content were negatively correlated with shear force values of KC breast meat. These could be used as markers to evaluate KC meat quality.

Keywords: Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy; age; chicken; meat quality; principle component analysis.

Figure 1

Cholesterol content in breast and thigh meat of Korat chickens from different ages. Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Figure 2

Total purine content in breast and thigh meat of Korat chickens from different ages. Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05) as ^a-bwithin breast and ^x-zwithin thigh.

Figure 3

Shear force values of breast and thigh meat of Korat chicken from different ages. Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05) as ^a-dwithin breast and ^w-zwithin thigh.

Figure 4

Total collagen (A) and insoluble collagen (B) content in breast and thigh meat of Korat chickens from different ages. Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05) as ^a-cwithin breast and ^x-ywithin thigh.

Figure 5

Raman spectra of breast (A) and thigh (B) meat of Korat chickens (KC) and commercial broiler (CB) chickens from different ages at a wavenumber of 3,800-400 cm⁻¹.

Figure 6

PC score plot and correlation loading plot (PC-1 vs. PC-2) of Raman spectra and physico-chemical properties of breast (A and B) and thigh (C and D) meat from KC of different ages. Abbreviations: ADP, adenosine diphosphate; AMP, adenosine monophosphate; ATP, adenosine triphosphate; CB, commercial broiler chicken (6 wk old); GMP, guanosine monophosphate; IMP, inosine monophosphate; KC, Korat chicken (8, 10, 12, 16, 20 wk old); MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid; SFA, saturated fatty acid; WHC, water-holding capacity.

Figure 6

PC score plot and correlation loading plot (PC-1 vs. PC-2) of Raman spectra and physico-chemical properties of breast (A and B) and thigh (C and D) meat from KC of different ages. Abbreviations: ADP, adenosine diphosphate; AMP, adenosine monophosphate; ATP, adenosine triphosphate; CB, commercial broiler chicken (6 wk old); GMP, guanosine monophosphate; IMP, inosine monophosphate; KC, Korat chicken (8, 10, 12, 16, 20 wk old); MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid; SFA, saturated fatty acid; WHC, water-holding capacity.