Influence of age at slaughter and sex on carcass characteristics and technological and sensory quality of Goliath chicken meat

Vet World Vol.16 January-2023 Article-24

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(1): 194-203

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.194-203

A. G. A. Christie Ahokpossi^1,2, A. Gabriel Bonou², Kokou Tona¹, Issaka Youssao Abdou Karim², and Yaovi Ameyapoh³

1. Regional Center of Excellence on Avian Sciences, University of Lomé, Lomé, Republic of Togo.
2. Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Meat Technology, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin.
3. Laboratory of Microbiology and Food Quality Control, University of Lomé, Lomé, Republic of Togo.

Background and Aim: The Goliath chicken is a slow-growing chicken with a high slaughter weight but whose carcass characteristics and meat quality have not yet been documented. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of age at slaughter and sex on the carcass characteristics and technological and sensory meat quality of Goliath chickens raised in southern Benin.

Materials and Methods: Data on the carcass characteristics and technological and sensory quality of meat were collected from 80 chickens raised in confinement and divided into two groups. The first group was reared for 12 weeks of age and the second group was for 20 weeks of age. The animals were individually weighed using an electronic balance (Terraillon 5000g) and then slaughtered. The different parts of the chicken carcass was weighed using the same method.

Results: The live, hot carcass, cold carcass, wing, thigh, and tail weights of males were significantly greater than those of females (p < 0.01). The wishbone muscle and thigh and tail assembly pH was lower in the 20-week-old chickens than in the 12-week-old chickens. The brightness and red index of the wishbone of the 20-week-old chickens were significantly higher than those of the 12-week-old chickens (p < 0.001). The red index of the wishbone and the yellow index of the thigh and tail assembly of females were lower than those of males.

Conclusion: The meat of 20-week-old Goliath chickens was juicier than that of 12-week-old chickens. Thus, the carcass composition of Goliath chickens is better at 20 weeks of age, especially in males. Keywords: Benin, carcass, goliath chicken, meat, quality.

Keywords: Benin, carcass, goliath chicken, meat, quality.

How to cite this article: Ahokpossi AGAC, Bonou AG, Tona K, Youssao Abdou Karim I, and Ameyapoh Y (2023) Influence of age at slaughter and sex on carcass characteristics and technological and sensory quality of Goliath chicken meat, Veterinary World, 16(1): 194–203.

Received: 20-07-2022 Accepted: 13-12-2022 Published online: 28-01-2023

Corresponding author: A. G. A. Christie Ahokpossi E-mail: chrisahokpossi@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.194-203

Copyright: Ahokpossi AGAC, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.