Effects of age, sex, and duration of postmortem aging on percentage yield of parts from broiler chicken carcasses

The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of age, sex, and postmo rtem carcass aging duration on parts yield from broiler chickens. Two hundr ed twenty-four mixed-sex broilers were reared under commercial-like conditi ons for various periods between 37 and 51 d, slaughtered, packed in ice, an d then aged for 0, 2, 4, or 6 h. Mean percentage yield of thighs, drumstick s, forequarters, wings, breasts, and filets were evaluated for each rearing period, sex, and postmortem aging duration. Yield of meatier parts such as thighs, forequarters, breasts, and filets increased with birds' ages. Fema le carcasses produced higher percentage yields of forequarters, breasts, an d filers but lower yields of drumsticks. Carcasses aged 2 h or more postmor tem tended to have lower yields of forequarters, breasts, and drumsticks th an did carcasses aged for shorter durations. No statistically significant i nteractions among age, sex, or postmortem aging duration that affected yiel d of parts were detected. This information is useful to integrated poultry firms wishing to optimize yield of the most commercially valuable parts.