Effects of gender and strain cross on carcass characteristics, meat quality and sensory acceptability were studied. Strains consisted of a commercially available strain (Strain A), and a strain genetically selected to maximize breast yield currently in the test phase (Strain B). Broilers varying in gender and strain cross had similar compositional characteristics; all treatments yielded high quality breast and thigh meat and did not differ in sensory acceptability. Effect of salt concentrations on yields, instrumental quality, and sensory acceptability of broiler breast meat was determined. Breast fillets were vacuum-tumbled with different concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25 and 1.50%) of NaCl and 0.35% sodium tripolyphosphate (STP). Marination showed improvent in CIE L*, shear force, and cooking loss. Marinated samples were highly acceptable to the majority of consumers. Results indicate that 0.5-1.0 % NaCl could be used to effectively marinate broiler breast meat depending on product application and desired attributes.

The effect of decreasing digestible lysine (dLys) intake by broiler breeder (BB) hens from 35 to 45 wk of age on their reproductive performance and performance of their progeny was evaluated. Two types of diets were fed: a diet from commercially available ingredients consisting of dLys intakes of 1,200 (IDL) and 1,010 mg/hen/day (ID) and a semi-purified diet with dLys intakes of 1,010 (SPL) and 600 mg/hen/day (SP). Hens fed the SPL and SP diets had lower hen-day egg production compared to BB hens fed the IDL and ID diets. Fertility and hatchability of eggs set were lowest (P <0.05) for hens fed the SPL diets. Chick weight at hatch was lower (P<0.05) for those that came from the SP and SPLed hens, but 42 and 56 day body weights (BW) were similar for all treatments. Marginal improvements (P<0.10) in FCR were seen at 42 and 56 days for chicks from IDed hens compared to IDL hens. A decrease in daily intake of dLys appeared to improve BB reproductive performance when hens were fed a semi-purified diet and the same response was not observed in hens fed a diet from commercially available ingredients. Furthermore, the progeny study revealed marginal improvements in some live performance parameters. In a second study, a diet based from corn-soybean meal and formulated to a dLys intake of 1,000 mg/hen/day (CS) and three diets composed primarily of corn, soybean meal, and DDGS with 1,000 (DDGS-1,000), 800 (DDGS-800), and 600 (DDGS-600) mg of dLys/hen/day were fed to evaluate the reproductive performance of BB hens from 24 to 42 wk of age. Feeding diets composed of commercially available ingredients with dLys intake levels below 1,000 mg/hen/day did not impact BB reproductive performance. Reduced BW, carcass and breast weight, and higher (P<0.05) back half weight at 42 days of age was observed from broilers that came from 26 wk old BB hens fed the DDGS-600 diet. Reducing dLys intake in later BB hen ages did not impact progeny performance or carcass characteristics. This suggests that Lys may be in dietary surplus concentrations for commercial breeders under current practical conditions.

Breeding objectives in the turkey industry are heavily weighted towards improving growth traits. This thesis focused on methods to efficiently select for other important production traits such as reproduction, feed efficiency, and meat yield. Based on bivariate and random regression modeling it was determined that egg production, fertility, and hatchability were influenced by genotype by environment interactions and, as a result, the regulation of reproductive traits is by some unique genes in the summer and winter. This may be due to changes in day length and temperature. Feed efficiency is another important consideration in a breeding objective and feed conversion ratio and residual feed intake were both moderately heritable. Residual feed intake was also more independent of production traits than feed conversion. Feed intake, body weight, and weight gain were moderately heritable and progress can be made in feed efficiency by appropriately weighting these traits in an index. Infrared measures of surface temperature were then investigated to determine if they can be used to select for feed efficiency. Temperatures of the distal metatarsus, eye, neck, and head did not show a strong relationship to feed efficiency and therefore offer limited advantages to a breeding program. Selection for breast meat yield (BMY) is important and it was determined that breast muscle depth, measured with ultrasound technology, is heritable and highly correlated to the carcass trait. As a result, ultrasound traits can compliment conformation scoring and sibling testing in a breeding program to increase the accuracy of selection for BMY and increase response to selection. A deterministic model was also developed and could be used to determine optimum slaughter weight. This would optimise profits in an integrated system, enabling the industry to account for and capitalize on genetic gains. Overall, the population parameters and selection criteria identified for reproduction, efficiency, and meat yield traits identified in the present thesis could be used to increase selection efficiency in turkey breeding programs. Further, the developed production model can be used by the industry to slaughter turkeys at a time that maximizes profits, based on performance levels.

Manual inspection is a prevailing practice for quality assessment of poultry meat, but it is labor-intensive, tedious, and subjective. This thesis aims to assess the efficacy of an emerging structured illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) technique with machine learning approaches for assessing WS and microbial spoilage in broiler breast meat. Broiler breast meat samples were imaged by an in house-assembled SIRI platform under sinusoidal illumination. In first experiment, handcrafted texture features were extracted from direct component (DC, corresponding to conventional uniform illumination) and amplitude component (AC, unique to the use of sinusoidal illumination) images retrieved from raw SIRI pattern images build linear discriminant analysis (LDA) models for classifying normal and defective samples. A further validation experiment was performed using deep learning as a feature extractor followed by LDA. The third experiment was on microbial spoilage assessment of broiler meat, deep learning models were used to extract features from DC and AC images builds on classifiers. Overall, this research has demonstrated consistent improvements of AC over DC images in assessing WS and spoilage of broiler meat and that SIRI is a promising tool for poultry meat quality detection.

New Zealand mutton bird or tītī (Puffinus griseus and order procellariiformes) nest in New Zealand during the summer months, migrate to the northern hemisphere during May and return in September. Their eggs are laid during November and December and the chicks are hatched in the following January and February. Large numbers of them are harvested from April to May in New Zealand. They are wild seabirds annually harvested by Maori according to the customary rights agreement set by Treaty of Waitangi.NZ mutton birds also called Sooty Shearwaters are noted for their high proportion of body fat.These birds are interesting since its sole diet is based on krill and other small marine organisms that are potentially rich in n-3 fatty acids and other marine bioactive compounds. The proximate composition, fatty and amino acids and cholesterol content of mutton bird pectoral muscle were determined and compared with other common meat to explore the nutritional value of this New Zealand delicacy. The concentration of twenty two essential and toxic elements including silver (Ag), aluminium (Al), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), boron (B), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), sulphur (S), sodium (Na) and cobalt (Co) and zinc (Zn) in mutton bird breast meat (Puffinus griseus) were measured over two years to evaluate its safety for human consumption. Persistent organochlorine, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and their metabolites, and aldrin and lindane were also measured.Twenty bird carcasses were purchased in both 2006 and 2007 from a local source. Meat samples from the pectoral muscle of two carcasses were pooled to generate 10 samples for each year. These were used for trace element analysis using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Trace elements were in the range of 0 to 1.09 mg/kg wet weight for Ag, 0 to 3.32 for Al, 0.17 to 0.79 for As, 0.01 to 0.07 for Cd, 0.03 to 0.15 for Cr, 3.56 to 4.88 for Cu, 0 to 0.15 for Hg, 0.22 to 0.50 for Mn, 0 to 0.09 for Pb, 0.66 to 1.18 for Se and 11.49 to 23.70 for Zn. In 2006, Ag, Al, Mn and Zn concentrations were significantly higher but Pb and Hg concentrations significantly lower compared to the 2007 samples (P < 0.05). Apart from one sample in 2006, all the samples were below the published maximum level for concern. However, our preliminary data indicated that the higher level of Cd and other metals in the skin of mutton bird may compromise the overall safety to humans consuming the skin of mutton birds. It is suggested that the evaluation of the metals in different parts and/or the whole mutton bird at different seasons is required to assure complete safety to the consumers.Furthermore, the nutritional value of mutton bird meat was studied over two harvesting seasons (2006 and 2007) to investigate the impact of seasonal variation. The moisture and carbohydrates contents ranged between 54.0 to 55.0 % and 2.8 to 3.0 %, respectively, and no seasonal effects were evident in these components. The values for fat and ash contents were higher and the protein content lower for birds harvested in 2007 compared with the 2006 values which ranged from 11.8 to 13.0, 10.3 to 11.7, and 20.3 to 18.5 % for fat, ash and protein content respectively. The major amino acids in mutton bird pectoral muscle were glutamate, aspartate, lysine, leucine, and arginine. Higher lysine concentrations and lower proline, cystein and methionine were found in mutton birds compared with the literature values for beef, lamb and pork. The essential amino acid content in mutton bird (43.8 and 44.9 % in 2006 and 2007, respectively) was slightly higher than those found in beef and lamb meats (42-43%).The major fatty acids detected were palmitic (C16:0), stearic (C18:0), oleic and isomers (C18:1), eicosenoic (C20:1), Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (C22:6), icosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (C 20:5) and these accounted for approximately 77% of the fatty acids. The 3/6 ratio of fats from pectoral muscle was 1.3. The cholesterol concentration varied slightly in the two years with 184.4±37.37and 134.4±25.55mg/100 g fresh weight for 2007 and 2008 respectively. Mutton bird was shown to contain significantly higher cholesterol content (134.4-184.4) than other common meat such as chicken (80.3-88.9), lamb (62.3), fish (52.79) and beef (51.97). Overall, the nutritional value of mutton bird muscle was similar to or superior to the traditionally protein sources such as seafood and red meat. Annual variations existed in the composition of Mutton bird pectoral muscle but this is not of nutritional consequence but might be a useful indicator for ecological events such as feed availability and other environmental issues. Mutton bird seems to be a good source of essential minerals, Zn and Fe compared with other traditional meats source. Mutton bird meat is nutritionally as good as the major sources of red or white meats. It may even have advantages over the other common meats (beef, lamb, fish and chicken) due to its high protein and monounsaturated fatty acids (omega n-3 and n-6) content. However, its high cholesterol content may represent a risk factor for some people.