title: Breast meat quality of broiler chickens can be affected by managing the level of nitric oxide.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of nitric oxide (NO) on the quality of broiler chicken meat during postmortem storage. Eighteen broiler chickens were slaughtered and breast meat was randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments including the control group, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor group, and NO enhancer group. The breast samples were incubated with water, NO enhancer, and NO inhibitor for 1 d and then stored at 4°C under atmospheric conditions for 4 and 7 d. Left side of breast meat was used to determine protein oxidation, lipid oxidation, water-holding capacity, and pH, whereas the right side was used for the measurement of color and drip loss. Breast meat from NO enhancer group showed the lowest water-holding capacity during refrigerated storage, whereas drip losses were not significantly (P > 0.05) different among 3 treatments. Lipid oxidation showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) only at 7 d in which NOS inhibitor group showed the highest, whereas the NO enhancer group showed the lowest levels of lipid oxidation. Carbonyl content in NO enhancer group was significantly higher than the control and NOS inhibitor treatment at 1 and 4 d of refrigerated storage. Lightness of breast meat in the NOS inhibitor group was greater, whereas redness was lower than the control and NO enhancer group at 4 and 7 d of refrigerated storage. The ultimate pH of 3 treatments was not significantly (P > 0.05) different from one another. These data indicate that NO could play a significant role in modulating the quality of fresh broiler breast meat during refrigerated storage.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Meat Processing and Quality Control, College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China;
authors.forename: Wangang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Al-Hijazeen
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Marwan
authors.forename: Himali
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Samaraweera
authors.forename: Eun Joo
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dong U
authors.initials: DU
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D063427:Food Quality; D061353:Food Storage; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards*; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D012034:Refrigeration; D026422:S-Nitrosoglutathione / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D026422:S-Nitrosoglutathione; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester