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Table 1 Descriptive statistics and heritability estimates for body weight, body composition, muscle characteristics and meat quality traits.

From: Chicken meat quality: genetic variability and relationship with growth and muscle characteristics

Traits

N

Mean ± SD

Min.

Max.

h2 ± SE

Growth and body composition

     

Body weight at 6 weeks (g)

592

2141 ± 326

1234

3028

0.49 ± 0.06

Weight gain from 4 to 6 weeks (g)

596

1040 ± 229

357

1646

0.30 ± 0.05

Pectoralis major muscle weight (g)

578

148.6 ± 28.4

53.0

231.9

0.38 ± 0.06

Breast muscle yield (%)

580

17.8 ± 1.5

11.4

22.4

0.30 ± 0.04

Abdominal fat (%)

583

2.6 ± 0.6

0.6

4.6

0.48 ± 0.06

Muscle characteristics

     

Fiber Cross Section Area (μm2)

592

1831 ± 426

630

3157

0.41 ± 0.06

Lactate (μmol/g muscle)

596

33.1 ± 10.0

6.3

56.9

0.27 ± 0.05

pH 15 min post-mortem (pH15)

599

6.45 ± 0.13

6.02

6.79

0.30 ± 0.05

Glycolytic Potential (μmol/g muscle)

591

108.0 ± 17.7

70.0

167.2

0.43 ± 0.05

Ultimate pH (pHu)

587

5.64 ± 0.12

5.35

6.04

0.34 ± 0.06

Meat quality traits

     

Lightness (L*)

590

54.9 ± 3.0

42.6

63.7

0.35 ± 0.05

Redness (a*)

587

-0.8 ± 0.7

-2.8

1.3

0.25 ± 0.05

Yellowness (b*)

590

11.8 ± 1.6

8.2

16.8

0.31 ± 0.06

Drip loss (DL, %)

589

1.6 ± 1.0

0.0

6.2

0.26 ± 0.04

Thawing-cooking loss (TCL, %)

581

14.6 ± 4.8

3.1

28.6

0.35 ± 0.05

Warner Bratzler shear force (WB, N/cm2)

570

14.5 ± 3.0

5.9

25.5

0.34 ± 0.05