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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #266577
Title: Pearson’s correlations between moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid and salt-induced water gain of broiler pectoralis major muscle

Author
item Zhuang, Hong
item SAVAGE, ELIZABETH - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2011
Publication Date: 8/15/2011
Citation: Zhuang, H., Savage, E. 2011. Pearson’s correlations between moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid and salt-induced water gain of broiler pectoralis major muscle [abstract]. International Congress of Meat Science and Technology Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary: Moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid, and % salt-induced water gain are widely used to estimate water states and water-holding capacity of raw meat. However, the relationships between these four measurements of broiler pectoralis (p.) major muscle describe are not well described. The objective of the present study was to investigate Pearson’s correlations between the measurements. Boneless, skinless p. major was collected 6-8 h postmortem from deboning lines at a commercial processing plant. Moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid and % salt-induced water gain were measured. Pearson’s correlation analyses of the measurements showed that the correlation coefficient was 0.56 between drip loss and expressible fluid. It was -0.52 between drip loss and % salt-induced water gain, -0.47 between the water gain and moisture content, 0.44 between expressible fluid and moisture content, -0.39 between the water gain and expressible fluid, and 0.32 between drip loss and moisture content. The correlation coefficient values were significantly different from 0 at the 5% level. These results suggest that there are significant Pearson’s correlations between these four measurements of broiler breast meat, even though the measurement results were not strongly correlated (coefficient values < 0.7). The best linear relationship exists between drip loss and expressible fluid.

Technical Abstract: Moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid, and % salt-induced water gain are widely used to estimate water states and water-holding capacity of raw meat. However, the relationships between these four measurements of broiler pectoralis (p.) major muscle describe are not well described. The objective of the present study was to investigate Pearson’s correlations between the measurements. Boneless, skinless p. major was collected 6-8 h postmortem from deboning lines at a commercial processing plant. Moisture content, drip loss, expressible fluid and % salt-induced water gain were measured. Pearson’s correlation analyses of the measurements showed that the correlation coefficient was 0.56 between drip loss and expressible fluid. It was -0.52 between drip loss and % salt-induced water gain, -0.47 between the water gain and moisture content, 0.44 between expressible fluid and moisture content, -0.39 between the water gain and expressible fluid, and 0.32 between drip loss and moisture content. The correlation coefficient values were significantly different from 0 at the 5% level. These results suggest that there are significant Pearson’s correlations between these four measurements of broiler breast meat, even though the measurement results were not strongly correlated (coefficient values < 0.7). The best linear relationship exists between drip loss and expressible fluid.