Chicken breast muscle fiber type and diameter as influenced by age and intramuscular location.

Six trials were conducted to determine the influence of muscle (pectoralis major and pectoralis minor) and location within the muscle on fiber type and diameter in four different age groups of chicken. Broilers obtained from a commercial processing plant, Athens Canadian Randombred chickens, roasters, and broiler breeder hens were killed via cervical dislocation. Muscle samples were removed from the anterior, middle, and posterior areas of the pectoralis major (p. major), and from the anterior and posterior areas of the pectoralis minor (p. minor). Frozen transverse muscle sections, 10 mm thick, were prepared at -20 C, stained for adenosine phosphatase activity, and photomicrographed for fiber typing and fiber diameter measurement. No differences were found in fiber types by age group, sex, or location within the muscle. The p. minor muscle had more intermediate fibers than the p. major muscle. Fiber diameters were significantly larger in the posterior portion of the p. major muscle than in the anterior or middle portions in two of the broiler trials, the female roasters, and the breeder hens. No significant differences in fiber diameter were noted for the p. minor muscle.