AAB Archives Animal Breeding AAB Arch. Anim. Breed. 2363-9822 FBN Dummerstorf Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/aab-53-225-2010 Weight of selected muscles as an indicator of the lean meat and fat content of broiler carcasses (Short Communication) Kleczek K. 1 Wawro K. 1 Wilkiewicz-Wawro E. 1 Makowski W. 1 Department of Commodity Science and Animal Improvement, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland 10 10 2010 53 2 225 229 Copyright: © 2010 K. Kleczek et al. 2010 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://aab.copernicus.org/articles/53/225/2010/aab-53-225-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://aab.copernicus.org/articles/53/225/2010/aab-53-225-2010.pdf

The objective of this study was to test whether the weight of selected arm and leg muscles and breast muscles may be used as an indicator of the content of lean meat and skin, including subcutaneous and abdominal fat, in the carcasses of broiler chickens. The experimental materials comprised 40 Ross 308 chicks aged 42 days (sex ratio 1 : 1). A total of 17 muscles were dissected from the right wing and the right leg. The right and left breast muscles were also dissected. Coefficients of simple correlation between the weight of individual muscles and selected slaughter quality parameters were calculated. The highest correlation was found between the lean meat content of a carcass and the weight of the right and left breast muscles (r=0.81 and 0.82 respectively), <i>m. gastrocnemius mediale</i> (r=0.81) and <i>m. peroneus superficialis</i> (r=0.73). The prediction of the weight of skin and fat in the carcasses of broilers based on the weight of single muscles may be unreliable due to low and non-significant values of correlation coefficients (r from 0.04 to 0.29). The weight of this tissue component was significantly correlated (r=0.42) with breast muscle weight only.