Leveraging understanding of meat flavor for product success

In order to get the most benefit out of the use of spices, seasoningsand flavors, an understanding of meat flavor and the factors that affect it isneeded. This article discusses flavor and its sensory perception, the variousfactors that affect it, and how this understanding can be leveraged to achieveformulation objectives and product success.

Integrative Analysis of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics to Reveal the Melanogenesis Pathway of Muscle and Related Meat Characters in Wuliangshan Black-Boned Chickens

Background: Melanin is an important antioxidant in food, and has been used in medicine and cosmetology. Chicken meat with high melanin content from black-boned chickens have been considered a high nutritious food with potential medicinal properties. The molecular mechanism of melanogenesis of skeletal muscle in black-boned chickens remain poorly understood. This study investigated the biological gene-metabolite associations regulating the muscle melanogenesis pathways in Wuliangshan black-boned chickens with two normal boned chicken breeds as control.Results: We identified 25 differentially expressed genes and 11 transcription factors in the melanogenesis pathways. High levels of the meat flavor compounds inosine monophosphate, hypoxanthine, lysophospholipid, hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, and nicotinamide mononucleotide were found in Wuliangshan black-boned chickens.Conclusion: Integrative analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics revealed the dual physiological functions of the PDZK1 gene, involved in pigmentation and/or melanogenesis and regulating the phospholipid signaling processes in muscle of black boned chickens.

Estimation of Several Commercial, Phenotypic and Reproductive Traits' Performance, Using the Quantitative Genetic Method for Kamper Chicken Line

In this study the genetic resource of Pelung chicken from Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, was exploited. Pelung chicken has a higher body weight growth, unique meat flavor, and superior posture, compared with other indigenous breeds. Kamper chicken line selective breeding program was conducted, to increase the performance of Pelung breed by crossing with Layer Lohmann Brown-Classic. The Layer Lohmann Brown-Classic is an imported laying-type breed, which is widely known for its reproductive performance, based on the egg productivity. This study aims to use quantitative genetic method in estimating the commercial and reproductive traits' performance of Kamper chicken line. Based on commercial, phenotypic and reproductive traits, the progenies in Kamper chicken line have significant improvements, compared to the parental cross of Pelung and Layer Lohmann Brown-Classic. The quantitative genetic method was used in describing and underlying some phenomenon, in the selective breeding program. Although quantitative genetic method is utilized in basic breeding program with significant precision and rapidness, it is only used in the preliminary study, for the advanced type. Therefore, the addition of quantitative trait loci (QTL), provide a more thorough genetic examination, and play a role in selective breeding program.

360 Awardee Talk: The evolution of meat flavor measurement and its importance to the livestock industry

Meat flavor is part of the trilogy of traits that determine taste: tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. For meat, juiciness is influenced by the amount of intramuscular fat and moisture that is retained during the cooking process. Meat tenderness is primarily determined by the amount and type of connective tissue, degree of protein degradation, and muscle sarcomere length. Tenderness has been managed genetically in livestock, with significant strides being made to reduce the number of steaks rated tough. The last factor that influences consumers’ perception of meat taste is flavor and aroma. Compared to juiciness and tenderness, flavor is much more complex, as it is influenced by lipids and water-soluble compounds that serve as precursors to meat flavor. These precursors are then developed into flavor and aromas during the cooking process. Flavor is measured by consumers via sensing on the tongue, trigeminal senses, and volatile aroma compounds and is largely variable from one consumer to the next. Objectively measuring flavor is much more complicated than either juiciness or tenderness and requires either a highly-trained human sensory panel or expensive, highly-sensitive equipment. The development of the beef flavor lexicon in 2011 provided a comprehensive list of beef flavor descriptors with objective references for each and anchors along a scale of 0 to 15, allowing a trained sensory panel to objectively measure and score the flavor descriptors. Gas and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy objectively measure volatile aroma compounds and flavor precursors, respectively. Now the use of “omics” techniques have been adapted to flavor research to help relate protein, lipids, and other metabolites with flavor characteristics. Meat flavor is what most appeals to consumers and sets it apart from plant proteins. Furthermore, flavor serves as the guardrails to keep a premium marketability on track and is something that the livestock industry has that makes their product unique and desirable.

Effect of Breed on the Volatile Compound Precursors and Odor Profile Attributes of Lamb Meat

The objective was to characterize the effect of breed on the volatile compound precursors and odor profile attributes and to provide an insight into improving the lamb production and meat flavor. Three-month-old Tan (n = 10), Hu (n = 10) and Dorper lambs (n = 10) were raised for 90 days in single barns. Longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle of all lambs were collected for analysis of intramuscular fat, fatty acids, amino acids, and volatile compounds. The results showed Tan and Hu accumulated more intramuscular fat and saturated fatty acid than Dorper. However, Tan had lower linoleic acid, alpha linolenic acid and total polyunsaturated fatty acid proportion than Dorper. Amino acid in Dorper was significantly higher than Tan and Hu. Furthermore, (E)-2-hexenal was only found in Tan lambs, while (E)-2-nonenal and (E,E)-2,4-nonadienal were only found in Dorper lambs. Hu had the fewest volatile compounds. The results of this study demonstrated that Dorper had larger proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), amino acid and volatile compounds than Tan and Hu. However, the specific PUFA derivates of Dorper had a negative impact on the odor profile. Hence, we suggest that further works should be focused on crossbreed lambs by Dorper and Tan, to enhance the lamb production and improve meat flavor.

Carcass characteristics and sensory analysis of Abergelle goat breed and Abergelle crossbred goat fed hay supplemented with concentrate mixture

The experiment was conducted using 36 intact yearling males of Abergelle breed and Abergelle cross bred goats (50%) with initial live weight of 18.92 ± 0.72 kg (mean ± SE). The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of concentrate supplementation on carcass parameters and meat sensory quality of genotypes. Goat genotypes were blocked based on initial body weight and were randomly assigned to dietary treatments. The experimental design was 2 by 3 factorial in randomized complete block design. The treatments included local grass hay as basal diet and supplementation with concentrate (184, 368, and 552 g/d on DM basis). Effects of genotype and diet were significant on the main carcass parameters (P < 0.05) but genotype did not show effect on edible offal components (P > 0.05). Diet had a significance effect on meat flavor (P < 0.05) but not on tenderness, juiciness, and soup flavor (P > 0.05). Genotype had no effect (P > 0.05) on all sensory attributes. Goats feeding on higher level of concentrate had heavier total edible offal components (P < 0.05) than feeding on lower level of concentrates but not difference between genotypes (P > 0.05). The cross breed goats feeding on higher level of concentrate showed higher percentage of nonedible offal (P < 0.01) particularly gut content, foreleg, and hind leg than pure breed and lower level of concentrate. The digestibility and chemical composition of meat of the genotypes were not addressed in the experiment and hence need to be studied further.

Correlation Analysis between AK1 mRNA Expression and Inosine Monophosphate Deposition in Jingyuan Chickens

In this study, we examined correlations between the deposition of inosine monophosphate (IMP) and mRNA expression of the adenylate kinase 1 (AK1) gene in Jingyuan chicken. The IMP content was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Transcriptome sequencing was used to screen the differentially expressed gene AK1 and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine the expression level of AK1 mRNA associated with IMP synthesis. IMP and inosine content in the breast muscles of both Jingyuan cocks and hens was found to be significantly higher than that in the leg muscles. Similarly, the expression of AK1 mRNA in the breast muscles of cocks and hens was significantly higher than that in the leg muscles. Moreover, AK1 mRNA expression in cock breast muscles was negatively correlated with IMP content, whereas its expression in cock leg muscles was positively correlated with IMP content. In contrast, the expression of AK1 mRNA in hen breast and leg muscles was significantly positively correlated with IMP content. These findings provide a scientific basis for enhancing the meat flavor of Jingyuan chicken and promoting the development and utilization of local variety resources, as well as constituting a basis for screening IMP-regulated genes. Our study will advance our current understanding of AK1 function.