Energy metabolism and sources of oxidative stress in wooden breast - a review

Shawna M Hubert,Giridhar Athrey

doi:10.12688/f1000research.23296.1

Shawna M Hubert, Giridhar Athrey

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.23296.1

Copy DOI

Abstract

Modern broilers show dramatic growth over a short interval and contribute directly to the success of the poultry meat industry. The growth performance of commercial broilers is a result of genetic selection for "performance traits", such as body size, meat yield, and feed conversion rate. However, due to the rapid growth rate of modern commercial broilers, several growth-related conditions have arisen, increasing economic losses and consumer concerns. Among the most economically consequential is the muscle disorder called wooden breast. Together with associated myopathies such as white striping and spaghetti meat, wooden breast is causing losses of $200 million a year in the U.S. alone and occurs worldwide. No causative factors are known for wooden breast to date. Wooden breast can affect over 80% of broilers in a flock, yet no methods of amelioration are currently available. Overall, the evidence suggests that wooden breast is a genetic, age-dependent condition associated with fast growth rate. The primary features of wooden breast are muscle degeneration and fibrosis, high levels of oxidative stress, hypoxia, and altered energy metabolism. Recent work has also implicated reduced pectoral vessel density in the pathogenesis of wooden breast. This review examines the history of myopathies in commercial broilers and the relationship of myopathies to metabolism and oxidative performance. This review summarizes the foundational knowledge of wooden breast and provides a platform for further investigation of wooden breast.

Highlights

Throughout the last 60 years the poultry industry has worked to increase growth rate, muscle development, and maturation of chickens in order to maximize production efficiency and keep poultry meat prices low (Bohren, 1953; Chambers et al, 1981; Elwinger et al, 2016; Fairfull & Chambers, 1984; Jaap, 1963; Merritt et al, 1962; Paxton et al, 2010; Remignon et al, 1994; Skoglund et al, 1966; Tallentire et al, 2018). These improvements have been accomplished through selective breeding and carefully maintaining multiple generations of broiler breeder flocks
Abridged history of myopathies in the poultry industry Generally, a myopathy constitutes a disorder of the skeletal muscle, often localized to a specific muscle tissue, in which impaired cell structure and metabolism generate macroscopic symptoms and muscle dysfunction
This study reports that glycolytic potential was negatively correlated to meat quality traits such as color, drip loss and shear force, and overall breast muscle weight (Le Bihan-Duval et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Throughout the last 60 years the poultry industry has worked to increase growth rate, muscle development, and maturation of chickens in order to maximize production efficiency and keep poultry meat prices low (Bohren, 1953; Chambers et al, 1981; Elwinger et al, 2016; Fairfull & Chambers, 1984; Jaap, 1963; Merritt et al, 1962; Paxton et al, 2010; Remignon et al, 1994; Skoglund et al, 1966; Tallentire et al, 2018). When investigating affected and unaffected birds of the same lines, these studies have identified pathways showing differential regulation to include those associated with cellular movement, proliferation, assembly, function and maintenance, protein synthesis, post-translational modification, protein folding and carbohydrate metabolism (Abasht et al, 2016; Cai et al, 2018; Hubert et al, 2018; Kong et al, 2017; Kuttappan et al, 2017b; Kuttappan et al, 2017a; Mutryn et al, 2015; Papah et al, 2018; Schilling et al, 2017) When comparing both affected and unaffected fast-growth commercial broilers against slow-growth broilers, they have observed differential regulation of the same pathways as discussed above. Investigation of these processes utilizing multi-disciplinary approaches will help determine the extent to which nutritional modulation of ω-6:3 fatty acid ratios can influence oxidative stress in the muscle

Conclusions

Open Peer Review

Findings

Comments on this article