Abstract. This study was made to determine the effects of genotype and housing system
on physical quality characteristics of breast and leg meat of broilers under
experimental conditions. The 150 slow-growing and 150 fast-growing 1 d old
chicks were divided into three sub-groups with indoor raised slatted plastic floor, indoor concrete floor with rice hull litter, and free-range housing systems (2 genotype groups × 3
housing systems). All birds were offered the same diet and were housed in
similar conditions until they were 56 d old. At slaughter, 10 birds
from each main group were selected randomly to determine the quality
characteristics of the meat. In total, 60 breast meat pieces (pectoralis major muscle) and 60 legs of
the chickens were used for meat quality analysis including pH, shear force,
and colour characteristics such as lightness (L∗), redness (a∗), yellowness (b∗),
saturation (C∗), and hue angle (h∗). The pH of breast meat was significantly
affected by genotype and housing system (P<0.001 and P<0.001). There were significant genotype × housing system interactions for pH (P<0.015 and P<0.001) and shear force values (P<0.007 and P<0.012) of leg and
breast meat. There were no significant effects of genotype and housing
system on leg and breast meat colour properties except for effects of
genotype on redness (a∗) of breast meat (p<0.005) and effects of housing on redness
of leg meat colour (p<0.031). Slow-growing chickens and chickens housed in deep litter
had a higher redness (darker) value of breast and leg meat colour compared to
fast-growing birds and free range and slatted floor. In conclusion, it can be
said that fast-growing broilers may be more appropriate for slatted plastic
floor housing and slow-growing broilers may be more suitable for a free-range
housing system, but further research on factors affecting meat quality would
be very beneficial, especially in slow-growing broilers.