Bird to Bird Variation Within Processing Lots for Mineral Elements, Proximate Constituents, and Part Weight in Broilers

Breast and thigh meat samples from 40 individual broilers from a single commercial processing source were analyzed for calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and zinc by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Phosphorus was determined spectrophotometrically as the antimony-phosphate-molydbate complex. Assays of breast meat ranged from 25% higher than previously reported for potassium (3190 vs. 2550 ppm, wet weight basis) to 25% lower for sodium (485 vs. 650). Breast and thigh meat samples differed in the concentration of all elements checked. The differences were not due exclusively to dilution of sample by a higher fat level in thigh meat, since on a wet weight basis sodium, calcium, zinc, iron, and copper were higher in thigh than in breast meat.