Metabolomic characterization of Liancheng white and Cherry Valley duck breast meat and their relation to meat quality

Liancheng white duck is a typical local duck breed in Fujian Province famous for its meat traits. To better understand how meat quality varies with breed, the chemical composition of breast meats of Liancheng white ducks (LD) and Cherry Valley ducks (CD) were examined using ultra-high-performance liq-uid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS).The correlation between meat quality and the differential metabolites was further analyzed. The results showed that the effects of breed on duck breast meat were significant for pH, color, cooking loss, and shear force. Liancheng white duck breast meat exhibited a higher shear force and pH, and lower cooking loss and lightness (L*24), redness (a*24), and yellowness (b*24) than CD. Metabo-lomic analysis revealed significant differences between the meat extracts from the 2 duck breeds. A total of 49 and 57 significantly different metabolites were identi-fied in positive and negative ion modes, respectively. These differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) could be divided into 28 classes, of which the 4 main categories were carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, and eicosanoids. Liancheng white duck might have better nutritional and medicinal value considering the higher content of (4Z,7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z,19Z)-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), docosa-pentaenoic acid (DPA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and prostaglandinF3a (PGF3a), having anti-inflam-matory orantioxidant effects. Carbohydrate concentra-tion negatively correlated with pH24. The 4 metabolites positively correlated with the shear force. These results provide an overall perspective for bridging the gap between variation of duck meat quality and metabolites with respect to breed.

Automated summary

The chemical composition of breast meats of Liancheng white duck and Cherry Valley duck were examined, revealing significant differences in meat quality between the two breeds. Liancheng white duck had higher shear force and pH values, but lower cooking loss, lightness, redness, and yellowness compared to Cherry Valley duck. Metabolomic analysis identified significant differences in metabolites between the two duck breeds, with Liancheng white duck exhibiting higher nutritional and medicinal value.