MEAT PERFORMANCE AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF PIGEON MEAT

The aim of the work was to evaluate the meat performance, colour and basic chemical composition (g.100 g-1 of water, protein, fat, and cholesterol) of the breast and tight muscles (n=20) of the California pigeons. The L* values of the California pigeons ranged from 33.38 (breast muscle) to 43.63 (tight muscle) and significant differences (P≤0.05) were observed between the breast and tight muscle. The a* value ranged from 10.03 (tight muscle) to 14.77 (breast muscle). By evaluating the b* parameter, we observed a similar tendency as with the L* value. The highest values were measured in the tight muscle (11.50) and lower in the breast muscle (9.84). The proportion of breast (42.80%) and tight (14.90%) from the carcass weight of California pigeons is relatively high, and a high average carcass yield (71.12%) was also found. The water content varied from 70.51% (tight muscle) to 72.37% (breast muscle). The average protein content of breast and tight muscle was 23.68 g.100 g-1. The higher fat content was measured in tight muscle (2.95 g.100 g-1) and lower (1.21 g.100 g-1) in breast muscle. The cholesterol content in meat from California pigeons ranged from 0.044 g.100 g-1 (breast muscle) to 0.071 g.100 g-1 (tight muscle).