Quality Indicators of Chicken Broiler Raw and Cooked Meat Depending on Their Sex

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the quality indicators of chicken breast meat depending on sex, to evaluate individual quality indicators and to find relationships between them. Three groups (A, B and C) of commercial meat-type hybrid broilers ROSS 308 (10 males and 10 females from each group) were used for colour measurement (CIE L*a*b*), pH, chemical analysis (amount of dry matter, fat and collagen) and texture (shear force, hardness, cohesiveness). Cooked meat indicators (texture, colour, pH and chemical indicators) were measured after heat treatment (80 °C, 30 min). In all groups we were able to prove raw meat differences between sexes only in the following indicators: carcass weight (A group P < 0.01, B and C group P < 0.001), breast weight (A group P < 0.01, B and C group P < 0.001) and pH value (A group P < 0.05, B group P < 0.001, C group P < 0.01). Differences were found (P < 0.05) between sexes in texture indicators (hardness or cohesiveness), breast meat of males was more tender. The cooked breast meat was significantly (P < 0.05) lighter, redder and more yellow than the raw meat. Raw meat pH had a significant negative correlation (r = -0.41, P < 0.001) with raw meat lightness. Cooked meat pH had a significant correlation with cooked colour indicators. The amount of collagen had significant correlations with shear force (P < 0.001), hardness (P < 0.001) and cooking loss (P < 0.01).