EN
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different variants of pre-slaughter procedures in the winter on body weight loss in broiler chickens, and on the proximate chemical composition and physicochemical properties of meat. At the completion of a six-week rearing period, 240 ROSS 308 chickens were subjected to the following variants of pre-slaughter transport: no transport (N-T), transport to a distance of 100 km (T-100), 200 km (T-200) and 300 km (T-300). The acidity of breast muscles (pH₁₅ and pH₂₄) was measured with a portable meat pH-meter, HI 99163 (Hanna Instruments, Germany) supplied with an FC 232D electrode. Meat color (15 minutes and 24 hours post mortem) was determined with the use of a Minolta CR-400 chroma meter (Japan), in the CIE L* a* b* system. Water-holding capacity (24 hours post mortem) was determined as drip loss. The content of water, protein and fat in meat was determined using an InfraLab 710 near-infrared analyzer (NDC Infrared Engineering, UK). The results of the conducted study showed that the elongation of transport length for a distance of 200 km and 300 km influenced the increase of broiler weight loss. Significantly higher (P = 0.01) weight loss was observed after transport to a distance of 200 and 300 km, compared to a group of chickens from group T-100 (respectively 2.65%, 2.36% and 1.41%). It cannot be stated clearly that variants of transportation have contributed to the deterioration of the quality of the meat acquired. The longest transport distance resulted in a faster rate of the pectoral muscle glycolysis in group T-300 (0.69 units) compared to the other groups (0.60-0.62 units). The broiler meat from group T-300, as compared to the other groups, was also characterized by a significantly higher surface of drip loss and the parameters L * 24 and b * 24, which reflected in its significantly lighter color and lower water-holding capacity. However, the final pH values were similar in all groups and did not show any meat defects. In addition, the basic chemical composition of chicken muscles showed their good nutritional value.