Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was established to quantify diverse cellular characteristics. This technique has been widely used in various species, such as fish, poultry, and humans for compositional analysis. This technology was limited to offline quality assurance/detection of woody breast (WB); however, inline technology that can be retrofitted on the conveyor belt would be more helpful to processors. Freshly deboned (n = 80) chicken breast fillets were collected from a local processor and analyzed by hand-palpation for different WB severity levels. Data collected from both BIA setups were subjected to supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms. The modified BIA showed better detection ability for regular fillets than the probe BIA setup. In the plate BIA setup, fillets were 80.00% for normal, 66.67% for moderate (data for mild and moderate merged), and 85.00% for severe WB. However, hand-held BIA showed 77.78, 85.71, and 88.89% for normal, moderate, and severe WB, respectively. Plate BIA setup is more effective in detecting WB myopathies and could be installed without slowing the processing line. Breast fillet detection on the processing line can be significantly improved using a modified automated plate BIA.

Carcass characteristics and breast meat quality in fast-, medium- and slow-growing chickens | Jaroslav Valenta, Darina Chodová, Eva Tůmová, Mohamed Ketta | Agricultural Journals

Insect meal is an alternative feed ingredient of interest due to its nutrient content and sustainability potential. Frass (BSFLF) is produced during black soldier fly larvae meal and consists of larval excreta, exoskeleton sheddings, and leftover larval feedstocks that may be a viable feed ingredient for broilers. This study was conducted to determine the growth performance and subsequent meat yield, quality, and sensory characteristics in Cobb MX × 500 broilers fed graded BSFLF inclusions. Four treatments consisted of a corn and soybean meal-based control diet and diets with 5, 10, or 15 % BSFLF. Treatments were fed across the starter (0 to 13 d), grower (13 to 28 d), and finisher (28 to 41 d) phases and were replicated with 12 pens of 25 birds. Feed intake (FI), BW gain, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured at the end of each phase. At 41 d, 12 birds per pen were selected for footpad dermatitis scoring and processing. After deboning, breast fillets were kept from 5 birds per pen to evaluate meat quality and sensory characteristics, including a consumer panel and electronic nose and tongue senses. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and a Tukey's means comparison test in addition to linear and quadratic contrasts. For the overall trial period, FI was not affected (P > 0.05) by BSFLF inclusion. Body weight quadratically decreased (P = 0.008) and FCR was quadratically impaired (P = 0.018) with increasing BSFLF inclusion. For meat quality, increasing dietary BSFLF linearly increased the occurrence of mild WB (P = 0.036) and decreased fillet yellowness (P < 0.001). Frass had no effect (P > 0.05) on white striping, spaghetti meat scores, cook loss, drip loss, texture, or color. The highest overall liking by the consumer panel was for meat from birds fed 5 % BSFLF (P = 0.017). Thus, BSFLF can be fed without affecting meat quality or acceptability, but future work should better characterize its nutrient and energy utilization to prevent impacts on bird performance when fed above 5 %.