The Association between Sartorial Fat and Fat Deposition in Meat-Type Chickens

Abstract

The potential of using the weight of the sartorial (M. sartorius) fat depot as a measurement of abdominal and/or total body fat was investigated. A preliminary experiment using populations of chickens exhibiting wide differences in growth rate revealed correlations, at 63 days of age, of .40 between abdominal and percent carcass fat and .71 between abdominal and sartorial fat.The relationships among these traits were further explored using two commercial broiler stocks chosen on the basis of known differences in adiposity. In addition, dietary effects were investigated by feeding diets containing different calorie to protein ratios. Sartorial fat was highly correlated with abdominal and total carcass fat. Genetic and nutritional effects on the weight of abdominal fat were consistent with corresponding weight changes in sartorial fat. Thus, a final experiment was conducted to study the longitudinal development of these adipose depots in commercial broilers with the objective of determining the association between abdominal fat deposition and sartorial fat weights over time. Although sartorial fat was not highly associated with abdominal fat at 14 days, correlations were highly significant at 28 and 42 days of age and significant at 56 days of age. Differences among genetic populations in fat deposition were particularly evident at 28 and 42 days of age.