Growth Rate, Protein Accumulation, and Catabolic Enzyme Activity of Skeletal Muscles of Galliform Birds

Abstract

We measured the mass and several potential indices of functional capacity of the leg and pectoral muscles through 21 d of age in chicks of three species of galliform birds and the domesticated turkey. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the growth rate of a tissue is inversely related to its capacity for mature function across species. We measured the proportion of protein and the activities of the catabolic enzymes citrate synthase (CS), pyruvate kinase (PK), and beta -hydroxy-acyl-CoA-dehydrogenase (HOAD) and estimated exponential growth rate (EGR) from growth increments. EGR was negatively related to proportion of protein, PK, and HOAD and positively related to CS activity. In a multiple regression, EGR was uniquely related only to proportion of protein; it was higher in pectoral muscles and increased in this order: wild turkey<pheasant<domestic turkey<chukar. Thus, among wild species, the muscles of smaller species grew more rapidly for a given proportion of protein, but domestication and selection for rapid growth and large muscle size in turkeys resulted in substantially elevated growth rate. When the proportion of protein was normalized by its maximum value for each species and muscle type, the relationship between EGR and normalized protein did not differ significantly among species or muscle type. Thus, if we accept the proportion of protein relative to the mature level as an index of functional capacity--presumably representing the assembly of the contractile apparatus--then growth rate is consistently inversely related to a muscle's capacity for mature function, that is, force generation.