Microstructure and thermal characteristics of Thai indigenous and broiler chicken muscles

Abstract

The microstructure and thermal characteristics of Thai indigenous (Gallus domesticus) and broiler chicken (commercial line CP707) biceps femoris and pectoralis muscles were determined. Perimysium thicknesses were 14.2 microm for biceps femoris muscle and 7.10 microm for pectoralis muscle of indigenous chicken muscles, thicker than those of broiler muscles, which were 9.93 microm for biceps femoris muscle and 3.87 microm for pectoralis muscle (P < 0.05). Five endothermic peaks with peak transition temperatures (Tp) of 54.9, 61.7, 65.4, 70.6, and 76.1 degrees C were obtained for broiler pectoralis muscle, whereas only 3 endothermic peaks (Tp of 56.6, 62.6, and 74.9 degrees C) were obtained for broiler biceps femoris muscle. Thai indigenous biceps femoris and pectoralis muscles had endothermic peaks with Tp ranges of 53.5 to 54.8, 60.7 to 61.9, and 75.9 to 76.9 degrees C. The fiber diameters of Thai indigenous chicken muscles were greater (P < 0.05) than those of the broiler, 31.7 vs. 20.4 microm for biceps femoris muscle and 28.9 vs. 26.6 microm for pectoralis muscle, respectively. After cooking at 80 degrees C for 10 min, the fiber diameter of indigenous chicken muscles significantly decreased while those of the broiler significantly increased. The mean of sarcomere lengths of the raw muscles ranged from 1.56 to 1.64 microm and decreased to 0.92 to 1.32 microm (P < 0.001) for broiler muscles and 1.22 to 1.35 microm (P < 0.001) for indigenous chicken muscles after cooking. The perimysium and endomysium of broiler muscles melted after cooking at 80 degrees C, however, only slight disintegration was observed in these tissues in the indigenous chicken muscles.

Thermal effects on chicken and salmon muscles: Tenderness, cook loss, area shrinkage, collagen solubility and microstructure

“…The swelling of fish muscle fiber can be clearly seen when comparing Fig. 6A, C and E. The average diameter of white fibers in raw chicken muscle has been reported from 32.6 to 68.2 mm (Wattanachant et al, 2005a).…”

Studies on Effect of Sex and Age on Physico-Chemical and Organoleptic Qualities of Rajasri Chicken

“…Ono et al, (1993) and Muthukumar et al, (2011) reported significant increase (41.51 m to 58.24 m) in MFD with age in broilers. Wattanachant et al, (2005) reported the fiber diameter of Thai indigenous chicken at age 16 weeks in thigh muscle (31.1 m) was higher than breast muscle (28.9 m) and in contrary they observed opposite results in broilers i.e. thigh muscle (20.4 m) MFD was lower than breast muscle (26.6 m) and differences in muscle fiber diameter was attributed to the differences in age, rate of rigor onset, and degree of sarcomere shortening as suggested by Smith and Fletcher (1988).…”

Breed-Related Number and Size of Muscle Fibres and Their Response to Carcass Quality in Chickens

“…The development of connective tissue and thickness of collagen fibrils was slower in chickens than in many other fast growing species (Shiba et al, 2006;Fernandez et al, 2001). The perimysium of indigenous chicken muscles was thicker than in broilers, which led to an extremely tough meat (Wattanachant et al, 2005). However, the increasing of endomysium and perimysium thickness was paralleled by a significant increase in muscle fibre diameter (Lachowicz et al, 2007;Wojtysiak, 2013).…”