Relationships between technological and nutritional meat quality parameters in local poultry populations (Gallus gallus) of Benin

The current work aims at determining relationships between technological and nutritional meat quality parameters in Holli, Fulani, Sahoue, North and South indigenous chicken ecotypes of Benin. Color parameters (L*, a*, b*, hue and chroma), pH, texture, dry matter content, protein content, fat content, and ash content were collected on 52 cockerels of each ecotype slaughtered at 24 weeks old. In Holli chickens, dry matter content was highly and positively correlated with protein content (P<0.001; r = 0.57), moderately and positively associated to ash content, redness, yellowness and chroma (P<0.01), but weakly and negatively correlated with the luminance and hue (P<0.05). Fat content was highly and positively correlated with the texture, pH4, pH12, pH24, a* and chroma (P<0.001; 0.46 ≤ r ≤ 0.85), but highly and negatively correlated with the protein content and luminance (P<0.001; -0.64 ≤ r ≤ -0.47). Except dry matter content, protein content was negatively correlated with the others parameters. Correlations between dry matter and the other meat quality traits of North chickens were similar to those of Holli chickens except fat content, pH, L*, b* and hue. Except texture, the correlations between dry matter concentration and the other meat quality traits of South and Fulani chickens were similar to those of Sahoue chickens. South chickens and to a lesser extent Fulani and Sahoue chickens were characterized by higher dry matter, shear force, breast cooking loss, yellowness and pH24, while Holli chickens were characterized by greater protein content, organic matter content, moisture, thigh cooking loss, hue, pH1, pH4, pH8 and pH12. North chickens were characterized by higher ash content, fat content and luminance.Keywords: Correlation, indigenous chicken, meat quality, principal components analysi