The quality of quail meat upon crossbreeding

Abstract

The growing consumer demand for safe food offers great prospects for the production of quail meat. The progress in poultry farming is based on the use of hybrid breeds. This study was carried out at the Siberian Research Institute of Poultry (Omsk Region). Studied were the productivity and quality of quail meat of Japanese and Pharaoh breeds and their hybrid combinations (?Japanese×?Pharaoh and ?Pharaoh×?Japanese). Hybrid combinations had lower body weight than the Pharaoh breed (by 7.78-16.30%, p<0.05), but larger body weight than the Japanese breed (by 11.33-22.66%, p<0.05). The discrepancies in body weights are due to the weight of the pectorals, the share of which is 19.43-21.63% for males and 18.34-19.45% for females. The superficial pectoral muscle accounts for the bulk of the weight of the pectoral muscles (74.09-78.22%). The deep pectoral muscle accounts for 21.78-25.91%. The area of muscle fibers of the superficial pectoral muscle is 226-299 μm2, the area of deep pectoral muscle is 409-443 μm2. For hybrid combinations, the area of fibers of the superficial and deep pectorals depends on the male breed. The protein content in the pectoral muscles of the Pharaoh breed was higher than that of the Japanese by 1.01-1.02 g, but the fat content was lower by 0.24-0.96 g. In hybrids, the paternal form has an impact on the protein content in the pectoral muscles, and the maternal form has an impact on fat content.