Abstract: To clarify the differences in nutritional composition and quality among different local chicken breeds, Beijing You chicken, Wenchang chicken, Langshan chicken, and white feather chicken were analyzed for nutritional components, color, cooking loss, texture, and myofibrillar structure characteristics. The results showed that Wenchang chicken exhibited significantly higher levels of palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1n9c), essential amino acids (EAA), lysine (Lys), glutamic acid (Glu), and zinc (Zn) than the other breeds (P < 0.05), while Beijing You Chicken exhibited higher linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) content, along with significantly elevated levels of sweet amino acids (Ala, Ser, Gly) and magnesium (Mg) (P < 0.05). Wenchang chicken breast meat exhibited higher lightness (L*) values, while Beijing You chicken thigh meat demonstrated elevated yellowness (b*) values and cooking loss. Langshan chicken thigh meat was characterized by higher redness (a*) values. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) further revealed that Beijing You Chicken and Wenchang Chicken exhibited smaller muscle fiber diameter, higher density, and longer sarcomeres, and thus had significantly better meat tenderness compared with Langshan chicken and white feathered chicken. In summary, Beijing You chicken and Wenchang chicken exhibited superior nutritional composition, meat tenderness, and flavor characteristics. The characteristic components of Beijing You chicken were C18:2n6c, Ala, Ser, and Gly, whereas those of Wenchang chicken were C16:0, C18:0, C18:1n9c, and Glu.

Key words: local chicken breeds; nutritional composition; quality; myofibrillar structural characteristics