EFFECT OF DIETARY ARGININE ON BREAST MUSCLE, DIAMETER AND PROTEIN:DNA RATIO OF BROILER MEAT

摘要

IntroductionThe economic importance of poultry white meat has driven extensive research efforts to increase breast yield of commercial broiler chicken. The chick emerges from the egg with a predetermined number of muscle cell fibers that does not alter during the life of the bird. Muscle growth post-hatch is the result of an increase in myofiber size and an increase in DNA content (Halevy et al., 2003). This phenomenon accounts for more than 98% of the final DNA content of muscle. Satellite cells are capable of entering the cell cycle and proliferating and either fusing into existing fibers or fusing with each other to form new fibers to maintain some finite ratio between muscle fiber size (e.g., cytoplasmic volume) and myonucleus number.