Sensory characteristics and consumer preference for chicken meat in Guinea.

This study identified the sensory characteristics and consumer preference for chicken meat in Guinea. Five chicken samples [live village chicken, live broiler, live spent laying hen, ready-to-cook broiler, and ready-to-cook broiler (imported)] bought from different locations were assessed by 10 trained panelists using 19 sensory attributes. The ANOVA results showed that 3 chicken appearance attributes (brown, yellow, and white), 5 chicken odor attributes (oily, intense, medicine smell, roasted, and mouth persistent), 3 chicken flavor attributes (sweet, bitter, and astringent), and 8 chicken texture attributes (firm, tender, juicy, chew, smooth, springy, hard, and fibrous) were significantly discriminating between the chicken samples (P<0.05). Principal component analysis of the sensory data showed that the first 2 principal components explained 84% of the sensory data variance. The principal component analysis results showed that the live village chicken, the live spent laying hen, and the ready-to-cook broiler (imported) were very well represented and clearly distinguished from the live broiler and the ready-to-cook broiler. One hundred twenty consumers expressed their preferences for the chicken samples using a 5-point Likert scale. The hierarchical cluster analysis of the preference data identified 4 homogenous consumer clusters. The hierarchical cluster analysis results showed that the live village chicken was the most preferred chicken sample, whereas the ready-to-cook broiler was the least preferred one. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) type 1 showed that 72% of the sensory data for the first 2 principal components explained 83% of the chicken preference. The PLSR1 identified that the sensory characteristics juicy, oily, sweet, hard, mouth persistent, and yellow were the most relevant sensory drivers of the Guinean chicken preference. The PLSR2 (with multiple responses) identified the relationship between the chicken samples, their sensory attributes, and the consumer clusters. Our results showed that there was not a chicken category that was exclusively preferred from the other chicken samples and therefore highlight the existence of place for development of all chicken categories in the local market.