Composition and Stability of Broiler Carcasses as Affected by Dietary Protein and Fat

Abstract

IN recent years, an increasing proportion of the broilers marketed in the U. S. were processed beyond the fresh-market stage and sold as processed commodities. These items may be whole meat products, or meat combined with other foodstuffs. This trend has emphasized the importance of producing broilers with a fairly uniform body composition, and has further emphasized the importance of studying factors which might influence carcass composition and stability. Changes in dietary regimes and rearing practices were shown by Harshaw (1936) to influence the carcass composition of chickens. Fraps (1943) observed that by adjusting dietary constituents, it was possible to produce chickens with widely varying amounts of body fat. More recently, other workers (Donaldson et al., 1956; Newell et al., 1956; Rand et al., 1957; Spring and Wilkinson, 1957; Summers et al., 1965) have noted that specific changes in either dietary protein, fat, or energy level produced changes in …