INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT GENOTYPES ON THE MEAT QUALITY OF CHICKEN KEPT IN INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE FARMING MANAGEMENTS

Three genotypes: 1. Broiler 2. Transylvanian naked-neck and 3. Hungari an speckled chicken kept in ''extensive'' and ''intensive'' farming ma nagements were investigated. The legs and breasts of male and female o f these chicken genotypes were used for the study. There were the foll owing significant differences between the components in the meats of t he Transylvanian and Broiler genotypes kept ''intensively''. Transylva nian chicken meat had lower muscle to bone ratio, higher pH-value, hig her water-holding capacity (in legs), less fat content, lower conjugat ed diene level, higher iron, zinc (only in male legs) and copper (only in female legs) concentration and higher riboflavin level (in legs). For fatty acids, the Transylvanian group had higher linoleic and lower myristic and palmitic acid concentration. Practically, no differences were observed in protein, cholesterol and thiamin concentrations and also in the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TEARS) between th e genotypes. In some cases similar results were found for the muscles of the Hungarian speckled genotype, but the differences were statistic ally not significant partly due to the small number of samples. The su peroxide dismutase activities in the male breast samples of the Transy lvanian naked-neck and Hungarian speckled chickens were significantly lower than in the Broiler kept ''extensively''.