Quality Characteristics of Breast and Thigh Chicken Meat from Free- Range System: Comparative Antioxidant Profile of Indigenous and Improved Germplasm

Background: New chicken breeds are being evolved for backyard rural poultry production to overcome the slow growth, late sexual maturity and poor production of indigenous breeds. However, autochthonous poultry is epitomized for quality attributes of their products. With this in mind, the present study for the first time explored the antioxidant capacity of meat obtained from a unique Indian chicken, Kadaknath and a synthetic breed of poultry, Jabalpur colour (JBC). Methods: During the period 2018-2020, breast and thigh meat were collected from chickens (n= 20/group) at their commercial slaughter age (20 weeks). Meat extract was used for qualitative evaluation. Antioxidant activity was explored using five well established in vitro methods testing for different antioxidant mechanisms. Result: Both, Kadaknath and JBC meat was proteinaceous with higher protein concentration (g/100 g of wet weight) in the breast (Kadaknath, 25.21 +/- 0.31 and JBC, 25.65 +/- 0.39) than the thigh (Kadaknath, 19.98 +/- 0.29 and JBC, 19.04 +/- 0.23). Both the groups exhibited antioxidant capacity in all the assays. They showed good radical scavenging for ABTS and DPPH free radicals. Superiority of Kadaknath meat was ascertained unequivocally by the three assays viz. Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), lipid oxidation inhibition (TBARS) and metal chelating capacity. FRAP values (mM Fe2+/g of tissue) were 26.97 +/- 0.37 and 33.85 +/- 0.47 (Kadaknath) and 22.84 +/- 0.25 and 26.82 +/- 0.36 (JBC) for breast and thigh, respectively. Similarly, Kadaknath meat was more potent (% inhibition) iron chelator (breast, 62.71 +/- 0.99 and thigh, 75.07 +/- 0.98) in comparison to the JBC (breast, 46.30 +/- 2.36 and thigh, 63.12 +/- 1.87). Breast meat had better scavenging capacity than the thigh except in FRAP and metal chelating assays. Results provide insight into the antioxidant potential of backyard poultry germplasm thus, laying foundation for developing marketing strategies targeting consumers interested in nutritional quality, animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, baseline data has been generated for studying medicinal properties attributed to the black chicken meat of Kadaknath.