Meat quality of male and female Italian Padovana and Polverara slow-growing chicken breeds

Abstract

The study characterised and compared proximate composition and fatty acid (FA) profile of breast and leg meat of chickens belonging to Padovana and Polverara Italian local breeds. Birds were slaughtered at 183 days of age and four experimental groups were formed: Padovana males (PAD M), Padovana females (PAD F), Polverara males (POL M) and Polverara females (POL F). Proximate composition was assessed on 10 breasts and 10 legs per group, whereas FA profile and cholesterol content were assessed on six samples per cut per group. Breast meat proximate composition resulted in similarity between the two genotypes and sexes. Genotype did not affect breast FA profile except for C18:1 n-11, whereas females breast meat was richer in DHA (p