A Comparative Study of Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality Traits of Breast Muscle Between Broiler and Cockerel Chicken

Background and Objective: Poultry meat, especially broiler and cockerel, consumption is increasing gradually in the country. As income of common people has been upgrading, they are now choosing quality food for consumption considering nutrient contents, meat quality and so on. The current study aimed to compare the meat quality of broiler and cockerel chicken in terms of proximate composition, physico-chemical properties, meat color, microbial load and carcass characteristics. Materials and Methods: To achieve this, apparently healthy twenty (20) broilers of 42 days old weigh between 1320-1380 g and similar number of same aged cockerels weigh between 740-790 g were selected from the experimental house and related jobs were performed carefully. Results: Results showed that the crude protein content of cockerel breast meat was significantly higher (p<0.05) when compared to broiler. The drip loss, cooking loss and free fatty acid content of broiler breast meat were significantly (p<0.01) higher than the cockerel meat. Lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) values were also significantly higher in broiler meat although redness (a*) was higher (p<0.01) in cockerel meat. In respect to microbial load, E. coli, S. aureus and TBARS value of broiler breast meat samples were found significantly higher (p<0.01) than the cockerel meat. The dressing percentage was found significantly higher (p<0.01) in broiler chickens. The results from this experiment showed that the broiler breast meat quality is comparatively lower than that of cockerel in terms of nutrient contents, pH, TBARS, free fatty acid, meat color and microbial load. Conclusion: Thus, it could be stated that meat quality of cockerel is better than broiler in terms of the above mentioned criteria.