Abstract: In order to investigate the changes in meat quality parameters of woody/wooden breast (WB) during short-term storage, 68 42-day-old Cobb 500 broilers were classified into normal (NORM) and severe (SEV) categories (n = 34/category). Weight, compression force (CF), drip loss (DL), sarcomere length (SL) and gravimetric fragmentation index (GFI) were measured in all samples at different times of storage (1, 3, 8 days). We determined if there was a significant difference in any of the parameters between different WB categories and between different storage times, and the correlation analysis was conducted between each of the parameters and WB. The results showed that SEV were significantly higher than NORM in weight, CF, SL and GFI at all storage times (P < 0.05), and DL was not significantly different between SEV and NORM on day 1 of storage, but it was significantly different from day 3 to 8 (P < 0.05). There was a significant decrease in CF, SL and GFI from day 1 to 3 (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in CF between days 3 and 8 (P > 0.05). SL and GFI did differ in NORM, but continued to reduce in SEV from day 3 to 8 (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that CF and total DL were significantly correlated with WB (P < 0.01), and there was a link between changes in SL and GFI and WB hardness reduction over time. These results indicated that SEV breast fillet was negatively related to raw meat quality. WB hardness decreased during short-term storage, which, however, did not result in any changes in meat quality. Therefore, WB test should be carried out on-line on the day of slaughter, and WB hardness was determined by a variety of factors.

Key words: poultry meat quality, woody breast, compression force, sarcomere length, gravimetric fragmentation index