Abstract
Background: Goose meat is more and more popular among consumers because of its good quality. The fiber characteristics, as a key determinant factor, contributing to meat quality has been well demonstrated, and the marketable ages are also closely related to meat quality in livestock and chicken. However, little is known about the effect of different marketable ages on the meat quality through fiber characteristics in goose. Results: Here, 1-day, 28-day and three market-age old (70, 90 & 120 days) Yangzhou geese were selected and their fiber characteristics were investigated. The results showed that only fast-twitch fibers were observed in the breast muscle irrespective of the ages, while little slow-twitch fibers could be identified in leg muscle in three marketable ages, especially in gastrocnemius and extensor digitorum longus. As for the fiber diameter, a rapid upward trend was observed in breast muscle from 70 days to 90 days, and the corresponding values were 19.88 to 26.27μm, respectively, and it remained stable 90d thereafter. While the diameter and cross-sectional area of muscle fiber in leg muscle increased with ages. In addition, the proximate composition and physical properties was measured at different ages. 120-day-old geese had richer intramuscular fat and protein content both in breast and leg meat, as well as lower moisture content among three marketable ages. The higher lightness and pressing loss and the lower redness and shear force was observed in the breast and leg meat of 70-day-old geese compared with the 90 and 120-day-old geese. Conclusions: Taken together, although longer marketable age did not affect muscle fiber type in geese, it resulted in a thicker muscle fiber area, richer intramuscular fat and protein content, redder and chewier meat. As a result, the reasonable marketable age should be taken into account to improve the meat quality in the goose production.
Dietary lycopene supplementation improves meat quality, antioxidant capacity and skeletal muscle fiber type transformation in finishing pigs
