Study of meat quality and some genes expression associated with growth in three strains of Ross, Arian and Cobb based on a basal diet

One of the goals of the poultry industry is to select animals that increased growth rate and also muscle mass while maintaining meat quality. The present study was conducted to evaluate performance, some meat quality characteristics and genes expression associated with growth (IGF-I, IGF-II, TGF-β1, Myostatin) in three strains of Arian, Ross and Cobb.

To do this research 150 one day old (male and female) broiler chicks of Arian, Ross and Cobb strains were categorized in a completely randomized design with three treatments and five replicates and 10 observations per replicate. The function, some physical characteristics of meat and the relative expression of their genes were investigated. Strains types had significant effect on feed conversion ratio (FCR).

In the whole of rearing period, the lowest FCR was for Ross strain and the highest was for Cobb strain. TPA test of breast showed that hardness, cohesiveness and chewiness in Arian, Ross and Cobb strains were significantly different. Maximum hardness and chewiness were for Arian and Cobb strains and maximum cohesiveness was for Ross strain. There were no significant differences between strains for adhesiveness, springiness, gumminess. TPA test of thigh showed that, hardness, chewiness and gumminess were not significantly different, but cohesiveness, adhesiveness and springiness were significantly different between strains. Maximum cohesiveness and springiness were observed in Arian strain and maximum adhesiveness was for Ross strain. Breast and thigh pressure test of three strains showed that hardness and deformation of hardness were not significantly different. IGF-I and IGF-II relative genes expression of breast meat had no significant difference between strains. TGF-β1 and myostatin relative genes expression were significantly different and the Cobb strain had the highest relative gene expression of TGF-β1. Also IGF-I and IGF-II relative genes expression had no significant difference in liver.

Given the individual advantages of each strain in some traits, more research is needed with specialized diets for each strain to be able to comment conclusively on the superiority of their traits.