Effect of caponisation on physicochemical and sensory characteristics of chickens

Abstract

The meat fats content associated to nutritional and sensory characteristics are the most important concerns of consumers. To study the effect of caponisation on the meat quality of two different breed chickens, slaughtered at 18 weeks of age, raised under the same conditions, the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of capons (castrated males at 8 weeks of age) and roosters' meat of native Amarela Portuguesa and native Pedrês Portuguesa breeds were evaluated. Forty Amarela (20 roosters and 20 capons), 40 Pedrês (20 roosters and 20 capons) chickens, and also, six free-range chicken and six broilers were evaluated. The pH, waterholding capacity, Warner-Bratzler shear force, moisture content, ash, myoglobin, collagen, CP, total fat and fatty acids profile were evaluated in breast and leg meat, according to standard procedures. Leg meat capon showed greater intramuscular fat content ( P ⩽ 0.05), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and CP ( P ⩽ 0.001) than leg roosters. Caponisation increased the content of myoglobin and MUFA ( P ⩽ 0.05) and reduced the moisture content in the leg ( P ⩽ 0.05). The main fatty acids found were oleic acid (C18:1), palmitic acid (C16:0) and linoleic acid (C18:2). The greatest value of C18:1 was observed in capon's breast ( P ⩽ 0.01). Sensory analysis was made to compare the Amarela and Pedrês meat with a free-range chicken and a broiler. The sensory taste panel classified the capon's meat (Amarela and Pedrês) as juicier, less fibrous and tougher than rooster's meat. The broiler was in general juicier, tenderer and less fibrous than the other birds. The results of sensory analysis complement those obtained in physicochemical analysis, suggesting that caponisation promotes an overall improvement in meat quality.

Effects of Caponization on Growth Performance and Meat Physicochemical Properties of Crossbred Chickens

“…The caponizing procedure did not affect the pH of the pectoral and leg muscles, which is consistent with the results obtained by Diaz et al (2010), Volk et al (2011), Amorim et al (2016) and Adamski et al (2016b). The pH15 values in the groups were higher in comparison with pH24, which proves correct glycolytic changes in muscles and proper maturation of muscle tissue.…”

“…Nowadays, a larger scale bird sterilization procedure is performed in China, Taiwan and the USA, and in Europe: in France, Spain and Italy, where capons are marketed as products of high, special quality (Sirri et al 2009;Amorim et al 2016). The most frequently used native breeds are e.g.…”

“…Comparison of slaughter performance and meat quality of cockerels and capons by origin, age, breeding system and nutrition has been the subject of many studies (Tor et al, 2002, Rachman et al, 2004Tor et al, 2005;Sirri et al, 2009.;Symeon et al, 2010;Rikimaru et al, 2011;Sinanoglou et al, 2011;Volk et al, 2011;Symeon et al, 2012;Mahmud et al, 2013;Calik et al 2015;Kwiecień et al, 2015;Adamski et al, 2016 a, b;Amorim et al, 2016;Calik et al, 2017, Zawacka et al, 2017Kwiecień et al, 2018;Murawska et al 2019;Wojtysiak et al, 2019). The results of these studies unequivocally prove that as a result of the capon's surgery, the accumulation of fat tissue in the abdominal cavity, subcutaneous fat, and especially intramuscular fat increases, which makes the capon meat characterized by greater fineness, juiciness and tenderness.…”

Implementation of Multispectral Imaging (MSI) for Microbiological Quality Assessment of Poultry Products

“…For chicken breast and thigh samples, differences occurred at the initial microbial load (TVC and Pseudomonas spp.) based mostly on animal strain and fat content [62]. Furthermore, in the case of processed poultry products, the presence of additional ingredients such as vegetables and herbs seemed to influence the initial and final load of microorganisms.…”

“…Differences between batches and ingredients (spices, herbs and sauce) used in marinated chicken souvlaki did not affect the prediction performance of the PLS-R model, with r p and RMSE p values of 0.934 and 0.348, respectively. Even though chicken thigh muscle has a more complex texture, with a higher percentage of fat and connective fat tissue [61,62], no differences were observed between batches and subsequently, external validation was performed satisfactorily with r p and RMSE p values of 0.859 and 0.160, respectively. Similarly, the presence of vegetables (peppers, onions and herbs) and spices in the homogeneous mixture of chicken burgers was not an obstacle for the external validation, where r p and RMSE p values were 0.778 and 0.285, respectively.…”