HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bianchi, M. Articles by Cavani, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bianchi, M. Articles by Cavani, C.

The Occurrence of Deep Pectoral Myopathy in Roaster Chickens

Department of Food Science, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna 47023 Cesena, Italy

¹ Corresponding author: claudio.cavani{at}unibo.it

A study was conducted to determine the incidence of deep pectoral myopathy (DPM) in male roaster chickens reared under intensive conditions, processed at different ages (from 47 to 65 d of age), and belonging to 2 commercial genotypes (Ross 508 and Cobb 500). The study was carried out in a major Italian processing plant on a total of 120,700 male roaster chickens chosen at random from 151 flocks during a 6-mo period. The evaluation of DPM was performed on pectoralis minor muscles and consisted of a visual assessment of the presence or absence of the myopathy as well as the scoring of muscle damage level as being in an "early" (hemorrhagic appearance) or "old" (gray or green discoloration) developing stage. The average incidence of carcasses affected by DPM was found to be 0.84% (0.62 and 0.22% in early and old stages, respectively). The range in the incidence of total DPM was fairly large and varied from 0 to 16.7%. Considerable variations were also observed for early (range: 0 to 12.0%) and old (range: 0 to 5.6%) developing stages. Considering the effect of genotype, Ross 508 exhibited a higher incidence of DPM in respect to Cobb 500 (1.27 vs. 0.35%; P 0.01). This result was due to the higher incidence of carcasses affected by both early (0.94 vs. 0.26%; P 0.01) and old (0.33 vs. 0.09%; P 0.01) developing stages of DPM in Ross 508 birds.

Key Words: roaster chicken • deep pectoral myopathy • genotype

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Werner, J. Riegel, and M. Wicke Slaughter Performance of Four Different Turkey Strains, with Special Focus on the Muscle Fiber Structure and the Meat Quality of the Breast Muscle Poult. Sci., September 1, 2008; 87(9): 1849 - 1859. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]