Animal Bioscience (Oct 2021)
The significant influence of residual feed intake on flavor precursors and biomolecules in slow-growing Korat chicken meat
Abstract
Objective This study investigated the association between feed efficiency, physicochemical properties, flavor precursors and biomolecules in the thigh meat of Korat (KR) chickens. Methods The feed intake and body weight of individual male KR chickens were recorded from 1 to 10 weeks old to calculate the individual residual feed intake (RFI) of 75 birds. At 10 weeks of age, chickens with the 10 highest (HRFI) and lowest RFI (LRFI) were slaughtered to provide thigh meat samples. The physicochemical properties (ultimate pH, water holding capacity [WHC], drip loss) and flavor precursors (guanosine monophosphate, inosine monophosphate (IMP), adenosine monophosphate and inosine) were analyzed conventionally, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to identify the composition of biomolecules (lipids, ester lipids, amide I, amide II, amide III, and carbohydrates) and the secondary structure of the proteins. A group t-test was used to determine significant differences between mean values and principal component analysis to classify thigh meat samples into LRFI and HRFI KR chickens. Results The physicochemical properties of thigh meat samples from LRFI and HRFI KR chickens were not significantly different but the IMP content, ratios of lipid, lipid ester, protein (amide I, amide II) were significantly different (p0.5) while the HRFI group was positively correlated with protein (amide I, amide II), alpha helix protein, IMP content, carbohydrate, ultimate pH and WHC (rg loading >0.5). Conclusion The thigh meat from chickens with different RFI differed in physiochemical properties affecting meat texture, and in the contents of flavor precursors and biomolecules affecting the nutritional value of meat. This information can help animal breeders to make genetic improvements by taking more account of traits related to RFI.
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