Enhancing agro-biodiversity in chicken: a sensory comparison of broths from German local chicken breeds and their crossbreeds

The poultry meat production landscape has undergone a reduction in chicken breeds, resulting in a reliance on a limited number of varieties. Motivated by the goal of promoting sustainable chicken production and enhancing agro-biodiversity, this study pioneers a comparison between local chicken breeds (LBs) and their crossbreeds (CBs) with modern hybrid lines. Serving as an initial exploration within a larger project, this research acts as a prelude to a comprehensive investigation, aiming to complement the human sensory assessment of product quality. Study I assessed chicken broths prepared from three German LBs Bielefelder (BIE), Altsteirer (ALT), and Ramelsloher (RAM) utilizing a factorial 3×2×2 design that incorporated variations in salt content (unsalted/salted) and cooking time (1 hour/3 hours). The sensory profiles of the LB brothswere largely similar, except for BIE, which exhibited a higher skin odor intensity. Both, increased salt content and longer cooking time intensify sensory perception on most attributes. In Study II, BIE was compared with six CBs, with variations in salt content and cooking time (6×2×2 + 1×2 factorial design). BIE demonstrated higher sensory intensities than the CBs. Those were comparable, with no clear advantages or disadvantages identified from a sensory standpoint. These findings support that crossbreeding with commercial lines is not associated with changes in the sensory profile. It thus represents a strategy for improving the economic viability of local chicken breeds in order to preserve their valuable agro-biodiversity. The provided protocol for evaluating chicken broth from LBs or their CBs aims to offer researchers a standardized foundation for sensory assessments in chicken broth studies.