Influences of Marketing Age and Gender on the Meat Quality of Slaughtered Bearded Chickens

To investigate the effects of marketing days and genders on the bearded chicken’s quality, in this study, bearded chickens (roosters, 80, 90, 100, and 110 days of age; hens, 100, 120, 140, and 160 days of age) were slaughtered, and their slaughter performance, chicken skin microstructure, muscles color, breast muscle pH_{45 min}, myofiber characteristics and water retention capacities were evaluated. The results showed the live weight, feathers weight, and blood weight of the bearded chicken from the same gender groups increased along with the increase of age (P<0.05). The effect of gender on meat quality also largely depended on the age of chicken. Overall, the meat performance of bearded chickens in this investigation was desirable. Under 60±1 ℃ scalding, the corneum of 80 d roosters and 100 d hens was broken, whereas the corneum of chickens which had reached sexual maturity (roosters of 90~110 d and hens of 120~160 d) remained intact. In terms of myofibers from the same gender group, the diameter increased with the increase of age whereas the density decreased (P<0.05). For any gender, the cooking loss rate and drip loss rate displayed a decreasing trend over the increasing chicken age (P<0.05). No significant difference in drip loss rate among different days of age was found (P>0.05) for chickens which had not reached sexual maturity (roosters of 80~90 d and hens of 100~120 d), and significant differences (P<0.05) were found for chickens which had reached sexual maturity (roosters of 90~110 d and hens of 120~160 d). While the cooking loss rate decreased by about 50% from 80 to 110 days for the roosters group, the cooking loss rate decreased by about 40% from 100 to 160 days for the hens group. In conclusion, combining slaughter performance, chicken skin microstructure, muscles color, breast muscle pH_{45 min}, myofiber characteristics and water retention capacities, free-range bearded chicken of market age has desirable meat performance, which is suitable for the development and production of broiler.