Meat quality is an important topic and a fundamental requirement for consumers. We aimed to assimilate the physicochemical properties of drumstick, wing, thigh, and breast meat of commercially spent hens and broilers. The commercial spent hens (n=30) and broilers (n=30) were slaughtered at market age (306 days spent hen and 28 days broiler). The thigh, drumstick, breast, and wing muscles from both sides of the carcasses were separated. The right thigh, drumstick, breast, and wing meat was vacuumed pack and kept at 4°C until it was examined for cooking loss, drip loss, pH, color, and nutritional qualities. Meat from the breast, and thighs of spent hens contained more protein than broiler meat. The spent hen’s breasts had a pH that was noticeably higher yet the broiler’s cooking loss was greater. Overall collagen content was highest in the thigh and breast muscles of the spent hen but the concentration of soluble collagen in broiler meat was greater. The spent hen was distinguished from broilers by having more moisture and ash contents (except wing meat of broiler), better pressing loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force value, and less intramuscular fat. Results revealed that broilers had the highest level of potassium except drumstick while spent hens had the highest concentration of microelements. Broiler’s thigh and breast meat had greater amino acid composition but wing and drumstick meat of spent hen had higher concentration of amino acid. Spent hen meat has several distinctive qualities and shows greater advantages over conventional broilers. The broiler’s meat compared to spent hens has a variety of unique qualities. The current information can be useful for consumers’ healthy lifestyles for the selection of desired muscle meat from commercial spent hen and broiler.
Keywords | Broilers, Spent hen, Meat, Muscles, Nutritional properties, Quality traits