STUDY ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF HENS MEAT REARED IN FREE-RANGE SYSTEM

Gabriela Frunză, Cecilia Pop

Abstract
   The purpose of the research was to evaluate the nutritional quality of meat from hens reared in free-range system (in the rural area of Iasi County). Were collected the main muscle groups (muscles Pectoralis superficialis (PS), Semimembranosus (SM) and Gastrocnemius (Gn) of 26 specimens (16 females and 10 males), aged five months, of New Hampshire mixed breed (variety scarlet thread). It was determined the content of proteins, lipids, collagen and water using Food Check automatically analyzer (infrared spectrophotometer); the minerals substances were determined by calcination and nitrogen free extract (NFE) and energetic value were determined by calculation, based on the classical formulas. The average values determined for lipids varied significantly in PS muscles, with a double proportion for females (1.65%), compared to that of males (0.81%); for muscles SM and Gn, the same phenomenon it was observed, but with smaller differences. For the proteins it was observed a slightly higher value for males, for all anatomical portion analyzed, compared to females. The energetic value was higher for SM muscles (118.79 kcal/100 g meat, for females, respectively 115.39 kcal/100 g meat, for males) due to higher proportion of lipids. Analysis of the results, by gender, using the ANOVA test highlighted preponderant significant differences for Gn muscle, and for the other muscles analyzed, the differences were preponderant insignificant.

Key words: hens, meat, proteins, lipids, collagen