| Effects of outdoor access on growth performance, carcass composition, and meat characteristics of broiler chickens. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 23300311 Owner: NLM Status: In-Data-Review |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of outdoor access on the growth performance and meat quality of broiler chickens. Thirty-five-day-old female broilers were divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates of 124 birds each: (1) birds reared indoors (control group); (2) birds reared with outdoor access since 36 d of age (35-d group); and (3) birds reared with outdoor access since 71 d of age (70-d group). The results showed that outdoor access had no effect on growth performance, carcass yield, meat yield, muscle protein content, muscle fiber characteristics, or water-holding capacity (P > 0.05). Chickens from the outdoor access groups had a better appearance and degree of evenness. Birds in the outdoor access groups had a significantly lower lung percentage than birds in the control group (P < 0.05), whereas the kidney percentage of the 35-d group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The meat of chickens in the 35-d group had higher L* values than that of the control group (P < 0.05). Compared with rearing indoors, outdoor access significantly increased the shear force of the breast muscle in both the 35 d and 70-d group (P < 0.05) and decreased the fat content of the thigh muscle in the case of 35-d group (P < 0.05). Birds in the 35-d group also had lower fat content in their thigh muscles than did the birds in the 70-d group (P < 0.05). The thigh muscles of the birds in the 35-d group showed lower levels of MUFA and higher levels of PUFA than those of the control group and 70-d group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, outdoor access had no effect on growth performance and yield traits but could improve the meat quality; birds reared with outdoor access from 36 d of age had better appearance and meat quality than those with outdoor access from 71 d of age. |
| | |
Authors:
|
X Chen; W Jiang; H Z Tan; G F Xu; X B Zhang; S Wei; X Q Wang |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Poultry science Volume: 92 ISSN: 0032-5791 ISO Abbreviation: Poult. Sci. Publication Date: 2013 Feb |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2013-01-09 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 0401150 Medline TA: Poult Sci Country: United States |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 435-43 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
|
Department of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China; and. |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
|
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Screening for cytotoxic activity of ovotransferrin and its enzyme hydrolysates.
Next Document: Antioxidant activity of carnosine extracted from various poultry tissues.