Influence of Sex on the Physical-chemical Characteristics of Abdominal Chicken Fat

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine if sex influenced abdominal fat yield, chemical composition, pH, color, fatty acid profile, and stability (by Differential Scanning Calorimetry - DSC) of Cobb chickens. Abdominal fat yields of 1.86 and 1.49% were obtained for females and males, respectively. Abdominal fat lipid contents of 70.68 and 74.36 g/100g, moisture content of 27.87 and 24.09 g/100g, protein content of 0.91 and 0.95 g/100g, ash content of 0.038 and 0.041 g/100g were obtained in males and females, respectively. Fat pH was not different between sexes, with values of 6.71 for males and 6.63 for females (p<0.05). Color L* values of 58.67 and 55.42, a* values of 4.95 and 3.44, and b* values of 7.36 and 8.18 were obtained for males and females, respectively. Female abdominal fat contained higher proportion of oleic acid (53.87%) followed by palmitic acid (30.07%), whereas 34.69% palmitic acid, 31.92% oleic acid, and 25.30% linoleic acid were determined in males. The proportions of the evaluated fatty acids were significantly different (p>0.05) between males and females, except for palmitic acid. The DSC analysis showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between sexes for melting and crystallization points. It was concluded that sex influences abdominal chicken fat yield, chemical composition, color, and DSC parameters