Relationships of Certain Biochemical, Physical, and Quality Characteristics of Broiler Muscles

A study was conducted to measure several physical and chemical properties of broiler chickens. A total of 336 birds from 42 strain crosses was reared, processed, and evaluated under uniform conditions. In addition to strain and sex, the following variables were measured for each bird: live and eviscerated weight, percent water uptake during aging, muscle shear value, blood and muscle glutathione levels, protein content and pH of extract from muscles, chicken flavor, and off flavor. Analyses of variance were used to evaluate differences due to strain and sex while simple correlations analyses were used to determine which variables were associated statistically. There were no significant differences among the 42 strain crosses with respect to tenderness (shear value) or flavor. The data revealed large coefficients of variability for certain characteristics while others were small. Correlation coefficients revealed that several of these variables were significantly correlated with shear value and flavor of muscles. Significant correlation coefficients were also obtained between several of these variables that were not themselves considered to be quality factors. The results indicate the importance of controlling as many variables as possible in research involving quality of broilers.