Effects of Intramuscular Fat Levels on Sensory Characteristics of Duck Breast Meat

Abstract

We conducted a study to evaluate the effects of intramuscular fat levels on the sensory characteristics of duck breast meat. Combining duck genotypes (Muscovy, Pekin, and their crossbreed hinny and mule ducks) and feeding levels (overfeeding between 12 and 14 wk of age vs. ad libitum feeding) enabled us to obtain a wide range of lipid levels in breast muscle. The average values were between 2.55 and 6.40 g per 100 g of muscle. Breast muscle from overfed ducks showed higher lipid and lower water levels than breast muscle from ducks fed ad libitum. Muscle from the overfed ducks was also paler in color and exhibited greater yellowness and cooking loss values. Juiciness was judged lower and flavor more pronounced in overfed ducks. Muscovy ducks exhibited higher breast weight and lower lipid levels than the other genotypes. At the other extreme, Pekin ducks exhibited the highest lipid levels and the lowest breast weights; values for these criteria were intermediate in hinny and mule ducks. Breast muscle of Muscovy ducks was paler, less red, and more yellow than that of other genotypes. Breast muscle of Pekin ducks exhibited the lowest values for lightness, yellowness, and energy necessary to shear meat, as well as the highest cooking loss values, and was judged more tender, juicy and less stringy than that of other genotypes. In contrast, scores for breast muscle of Muscovy ducks were the lowest for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor, and the highest for stringiness. Breast muscle of hinny and mule ducks scored the highest values for redness. Hinny ducks also scored the highest values for flavor. Genotype exerted a higher effect on the sensory quality of breast muscle than did feeding levels. Finally, increasing lipid levels in breast muscle increased lightness, yellowness, cooking loss, tenderness, and flavor, with correlation coefficients of 0.49, 0.47, 0.54, 0.43, and 0.28, respectively. However, breast meat color and tenderness were mainly influenced by genotype.

Intramuscular fat content in meat-producing animals: development, genetic and nutritional control, and identification of putative markers

“…However, significant relationships with sensory quality traits are often observed only in case of high variations in IMF content. For instance, Chartrin et al (2006a) showed that increasing lipid levels from 1.7% to 8.5% in breast muscle increased lightness, yellowness, cooking loss, tenderness and flavour of duck meat. The major changes in scores for sensory attributes recorded by trained panelists were observed for lipid levels around 3%.…”

Dietary lipid sources and vitamin E affect fatty acid composition or lipid stability of breast meat from Muscovy duck

“…Additionally, the protective effect of a-TA-supplemented diets has been shown in vivo in chicken by the evaluation of the improved resistance of erythrocytes to haemolysis and lipid peroxidation (SotoSalanova and Sell 1996;Schiavone et al 2010). The higher fat content of duck meat compared with other species (Chartrin et al 2006), such as chicken and turkey, leads to a higher susceptibility of this product to peroxidation during storage. Therefore, improving duck meat antioxidant capacity through a-TA supplementation would be of great interest for meat conservation, especially in the context of meat enrichment with LC-PUFA.…”

“…It is well known that the quality of dietary lipids and dietary supplementation with supranutritional amounts of antioxidants, like a-tocopheryl acetate (a-TA), leads to a significant improvement in the quality of poultry products (meat and eggs), through the improvement of lipid stability during storage (Bou et al 2009). The supplementation of duck diets with a-TA assumes a particular importance, because duck meat presents a higher overall fat content (Chartrin et al 2006). Therefore, meat stability during storage assumes a greater importance in this species, despite the lower consumption of duck meat by humans.…”

Gamebirds: A sustainable food source in Southern Africa?

“…As fat is involved in conveying flavour during mastication, a higher intramuscular fat content ensures better transmission of flavour and therefore increases the flavour intensity (Melton 1990). Chartrin et al (2006) noted a more prominent flavour in the breast portion of Mule ducks with higher intramuscular lipid levels. However, Lawrie and Ledward (2006) state that there is not only an increase in the intramuscular fat content of the meat but an alteration in the composition of the fatty acid profile, which becomes more saturated and is associated with an improved flavour.…”