How can heat stress affect chicken meat quality? – a review

Abstract

Heat stress is one of the most important environmental stressors for the poultry industry in the world. Reduced growth rate, low feed efficiency, impaired immunological responses, changes in intestinal microflora, and deterioration of meat quality are the consequences of acute or chronic heat stress. In terms of meat quality, 3 primary mechanisms have been suggested to explain this phenomenon: 1) rapid drop in pH during and after slaughter due to the glycogen conversion to increase in lactic acid accumulation especially when the muscle temperature is high, a combination of high temperature and low pH that facilitates the denaturation of sarcoplasmic proteins resulting in lower water-holding capacity of muscle; 2) acceleration of panting to dissipate body heat, which increases CO2 exhalation and pH drop in blood, initiates metabolic acidosis in skeletal muscle. Increase in panting is also associated with a high release of corticosteroid hormones; 3) the reactive oxygen species produced by heat stress increases the oxidative stress in the birds, which can damage the structure and functions of the enzymes that regulate sarcoplasmic calcium levels in muscles. Overall, these changes in the muscle cells accentuate energy expenditure due to constant muscle contractions. This review discusses the scientific evidence about how heat stress affects the quality of chicken meat through the acid/base status, oxidative reactions, and changes in hormonal secretions.

Chitosan oligosaccharide as an effective feed additive to maintain growth performance, meat quality, muscle glycolytic metabolism, and oxidative status in yellow-feather broilers under heat stress

“…Former studies reported that heat stress had detrimental effects on meat quality and even resulted in pale, soft, and exudative-like meat, decreasing consumers' acceptability and economic loss ( Zaboli et al., 2019 ). In this study, heat stress induced poor meat quality by lowering pH 24h and increasing cooking loss.…”

“…Heat stress is one of the major environment stressors in poultry production because it adversely affects health status and production performance of broilers, causing direct economic losses ( St-Pierre et al., 2003 ). Broilers exposed to heat stress would induce multiple physiology disturbances, such as endocrine disorders ( Rajaei-Sharifabadi et al., 2017 ), immune suppression ( Wang et al., 2018 ), and oxidative stress ( Ganesan et al., 2017 ; Zhang et al., 2018 ) and adversely affect the meat quality by changing muscle glycolysis metabolism and oxidative status ( Zaboli et al., 2019 ). Either acute or chronic heat stress had detrimental effects on meat quality by increasing postmortem glycolytic metabolisms ( Zhang et al., 2012 ; Zaboli et al., 2019 ) and induced a lower ultimate pH accompanied with variation in water-holding capacity, meat color, and tenderness of meat, resulting in a lower purchasing desire ( Zhang et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Broilers exposed to heat stress would induce multiple physiology disturbances, such as endocrine disorders ( Rajaei-Sharifabadi et al., 2017 ), immune suppression ( Wang et al., 2018 ), and oxidative stress ( Ganesan et al., 2017 ; Zhang et al., 2018 ) and adversely affect the meat quality by changing muscle glycolysis metabolism and oxidative status ( Zaboli et al., 2019 ). Either acute or chronic heat stress had detrimental effects on meat quality by increasing postmortem glycolytic metabolisms ( Zhang et al., 2012 ; Zaboli et al., 2019 ) and induced a lower ultimate pH accompanied with variation in water-holding capacity, meat color, and tenderness of meat, resulting in a lower purchasing desire ( Zhang et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2017 ). In recent years, numerous nutritional strategies have been used to alleviate the detrimental effects of heat stress on animals, and dietary supplementation with functional oligosaccharides attracted increasing attention ( Cheng et al., 2019 ; Tavaniello et al., 2020 ).…”

Embryonic Thermal Manipulation Affects the Antioxidant Response to Post-Hatch Thermal Exposure in Broiler Chickens

“…However, these artificial selection pressures have been largely consumer-driven, focusing solely on improving certain commercially attractive parameters at the expense of immune, metabolic, and skeletal function [4]. As a result, the modern broiler has become increasingly susceptible to the effects of thermal and, in turn, oxidative stresses [5].…”

HSF3 and Hsp70 Expression during Post-Hatch Cold Stress in Broiler Chickens Subjected to Embryonic Thermal Manipulation

“…Since then, the poultry industry has exerted many artificial selection pressures on broiler chickens in order to breed for commercially desirable traits, mainly faster growth rates, increased breast meat yield, and improved feed-conversion ratios [4,5]. However, the industry's narrow focus on body weight has inadvertently resulted in several adverse effects, including immune and metabolic dysfunction as well as increased metabolic costs [6]. Broiler chickens are classified as homoeothermic animals, meaning that they can only maintain their body temperature efficiently when ambient temperatures are within certain limits [7,8].…”