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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 #339600
Research Project: Assessment and Improvement of Poultry Meat, Egg, and Feed Quality

Location: Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit

Title: Relationships between instrumental texture measurements and subjective woody breast condition scores

Author
item Zhuang, Hong
item Bowker, Brian
item Yoon, Seung-Chul

Submitted to: Poultry Science Association Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/5/2017
Publication Date: 7/17/2017
Citation: Zhuang, H., Bowker, B.C., Yoon, S.C. 2017. Relationships between instrumental texture measurements and subjective woody breast condition scores. Poultry Science Association Meeting Abstract. 96:85.

Interpretive Summary: n/a

Technical Abstract: Broiler breast fillets (pectoralis major) with the woody breast condition (WBC) are characterized by their diffuse areas of hardness and overall muscle rigidity. Several instrumental methods have been evaluated for the classification of the WBC; but categorization of fillets based on the WBC depends primarily on subjective evaluation, which makes it difficult to compare results and raw material conditions between studies and institutions. The objective of this study was to compare the relationship between different instrumental texture measurements and subjective WBC scores in raw broiler breast fillets. A total of 181 broiler breast fillets (deboned at 3 h post-mortem) were collected from a commercial plant and scored in 0.5 increments into five WBC categories (1 = normal; 1.5 = mild; 2 = moderate; 2.5 = severe; 3 = extremely severe) based on palpable hardness and rigidity. Texture properties of raw fillets were measured with three different methods: compression force, Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear (MORS), and blunt MORS (BMORS). Spearman correlations between WBC scores and instrumental measurements and Pearson correlations between instrumental measurements were calculated and ANOVA of instrumental measurements were performed. Spearman correlation coefficients indicated that the strongest correlation between subjective WBC scores and instrumental texture measurements was for compression force (r = 0.65, P < 0.0001). This was followed by BMORS energy (r = 0.56, P < 0.0001), BMORS force (r = 0.55, P < 0.0001), and MORS energy (r = 0.47, P < 0.0001). The weakest correlation was between the WBC scores and MORS force (r = 0.17, P = 0.023). Pearson correlation coefficients between the different instrumental methods were all significant (P < 0.0001) and ranged from 0.30 to 0.99. ANOVA results showed that the best means separations between WBC scores were found with the compression method. Means separations were similar for MORS energy, BMORS force, and BMORS energy. The poorest means separations were observed with MORS force. These results demonstrate that there are significant and positive correlations between subjective WBC scores and instrumental measurements but that correlation strength varies with measurement method. These data suggest that instrumental texture measurements can be used as references for subjective WBC scores and that the compression method has the best potential for predicting the WBC.