MEAT QUALITY OF COMMERCIAL CHICKENS REARED IN DIFFERENT PRODUCTION SYSTEMS: INDUSTRIAL, RANGE AND ORGANIC

Meat is an important part of the human diet since it provides several nutrients. However, the amount of these nutrients can differ according to several factors. With this in mind, the present research was designed with the main objective of evaluating the effect of production system of broiler chickens (industrial, range and organic) on meat quality. The physicochemical, chemical and nutritional characteristics were determined in breast and drumstick meat. The or chick- ens presented the lowest amounts of fat and cholesterol and the highest amounts of protein. The colour was also influenced by the product' system, where organic and range chickens had the highest values of redness in both cuts (breast and drumstick). In addition, the content of essential fatty acids (C18:2n-6 and C18:3n-3) and other fatty acids with high biological importance, such as eicosapentanoic acid (EPA; C20:5n-3), docosapentanoic acid (DPA; C22:5n-3) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA; C22:6n-3) were higher hi organic samples compared to industrial or range chickens. The amino acids content did not vary with the production system. With regard to mineral contents, organic chickens had the highest values of iron in drumstick and significantly lower values of magnesium in both cuts than industrial chickens. On the whole, the meat of the organic chickens showed better nutritional characteristics than those produced in range or industrial conditions.