Abstract
The aim of this work was to compare gross energy (GE) in breast and thigh muscles in the following six species of feathered game reared in Europe: guineafowl (Numida meleagris), common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica), chukar (Alectoris chucar), grey partridge (Perdix perdix) and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Calorimetric analysis revealed significant (P ≤ 0.05) and highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) differences between individual species in the content of energy in breast and thigh muscles. The highest content of energy (recalculated to dry matter) was found in breast muscles from wild turkey (24.75 MJ·kg-1) and Japanese quail (24.57 MJ·kg-1) whereas the highest content of energy (recalculated to dry matter) in thigh muscles was found in Japanese quail and grey partridge. Highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) differences in the energy content were also found between breast and thigh muscles in all studied game species except for wild turkey. Differences in the content of energy in muscles between individual species occur mainly due to different contents of fat in muscles. This is also confirmed by high correlation coefficients between the content of energy and the content of fat in breast (r = 0.912) and thigh muscles (r = 0.878). Our study provides more specific data on the amount of energy in muscles of major species of feathered game reared in Europe and significantly extends current knowledge in this field.
Highlights
The content of energy, i.e. gross energy (GE), is one of the most important criteria in evaluation of the dietetic value of food
It follows from the results that the amount of energy in dry matter of thigh muscles in all species except for wild turkey is significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) compared to breast muscles
On the basis of our values of energy found in muscles, it can be concluded that the differences in the content of energy in muscles are significantly influenced by the presence of muscular fat rather than by crude protein
Summary
The content of energy, i.e. gross energy (GE), is one of the most important criteria in evaluation of the dietetic value of food. Valuable information can be obtained from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (U.S Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service 2009) This database contains energy values for some of the feathered game species such as common pheasant (breast muscles - 133 kcal per 100 g of muscles (5.5 MJ·kg-1), thigh muscles - 134 kcal per 100 g of muscles (5.5 MJ·kg-1), quail (breast muscles - 123 kcal per 100 g of muscles (5.1 MJ·kg-1), thigh muscles - 134 kcal/100 g of muscles (5.6 MJ·kg-1) and guineafowl (raw meat - 110 kcal per 100 g of meat (4.6 MJ·kg-1), raw meat and skin - 158 kcal/100 g (6.6 MJ·kg-1). Thigh muscles that contain more fat and less proteins have a higher value of energy compared to breast muscles This was reported in broiler chickens by Suchý et al (2002) and in pheasants by Večerek et al (2005).
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