Genetic Variability of Poultry Meat Quality

Poultry meat production has been very dynamic over the last decade and now occupies the second place in the world just after pork. At the same time, the marketing of poultry has been greatly diversified: if in the sixties in the USA only 17% of broilers were sold as parts or further processed products, it represented more than 90% in 1998 (Mandava and Hoogenkamp, 1999). The same trends are observed at a lower level in France, where nearly 50% of the chickens are sold as parts or further processed products. This proportion should increase by 10% in the next five years (Magdelaine and philippot, 2000). As a consequence, selection for edible meat yield, mainly breast yield, has intensified (Pollock, 1997) at least for standard production. If selection for growth and muscle development has been beneficial to production costs, its impact on meat quality has to be investigated more. As birds become meatier and are killed at a younger age, sensory properties such as flavor, juiciness, tenderness or color are likely to be affected. On the other hand, the continuing shift in the market from whole birds to further processed products has highlighted an increase in meat quality problems such as poor cohesiveness or water holding properties reported in turkeys (Sosnicki and Wilson, 1991) but also in chickens.