Influences of Marketing Age and Gender on the Meat Quality of Slaughtered Bearded Chickens

Abstract

To investigate the effects of marketing days and genders on the bearded chicken’s quality, in this study, bearded chickens (roosters, 80, 90, 100, and 110 days of age; hens, 100, 120, 140, and 160 days of age) were slaughtered, and their slaughter performance, chicken skin microstructure, muscles color, breast muscle pH45 min, myofiber characteristics and water retention capacities were evaluated. The results showed the live weight, feathers weight, and blood weight of the bearded chicken from the same gender groups increased along with the increase of age (P0.05) for chickens which had not reached sexual maturity (roosters of 80~90 d and hens of 100~120 d), and significant differences (P<0.05) were found for chickens which had reached sexual maturity (roosters of 90~110 d and hens of 120~160 d). While the cooking loss rate decreased by about 50% from 80 to 110 days for the roosters group, the cooking loss rate decreased by about 40% from 100 to 160 days for the hens group. In conclusion, combining slaughter performance, chicken skin microstructure, muscles color, breast muscle pH45 min, myofiber characteristics and water retention capacities, free-range bearded chicken of market age has desirable meat performance, which is suitable for the development and production of broiler.

Keywords

• bearded chicken
• marketing age
• slaughter performance
• meat color
• drip loss