The Effects of Preslaughter Electrical Stunning on Serum Cortisol and Meat Quality Parameters of a Slow-Growing Chinese Chicken Breed
by
, ,
Wenpeng Li
1,†, 
Chao Yan
1,2,†,
Kris Descovich
3
,
Clive J. C. Phillips
4,5
,
Yongyou Chen
6,
Huijing Huang
6,
Xuan Wu
6,
Jian Liu
6,
Siyu Chen
7,* and
Xingbo Zhao
1,* 1
College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
2
Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518124, China
3
School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia
4
Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia
5
Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
6
Nayong County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, Bijie 553300, China
7
Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Animals 2022, 12(20), 2866; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12202866
Submission received: 24 August 2022
/
Revised: 9 September 2022
/
Accepted: 19 September 2022
/
Published: 20 October 2022
(This article belongs to the Collection Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems and at Slaughter)
Simple Summary
In China, although preslaughter stunning is commonly performed in large-scale production systems, this practice is less common in smaller-scale systems. To promote the concept of animal welfare, we selected common local chicken breeds and sampled the meat and blood of chickens with and without stunning. The experimental results verified that stunning before slaughter can improve meat quality, increase flavor and reduce the stress on chickens. It is more respectful of animal welfare and provides a theoretical basis for the promotion of animal welfare concepts in China.
Abstract
Electrical stunning is widely utilized prior to a neck cut to induce unconsciousness in order to improve animal welfare and slaughter efficiency in the broiler production industry. However, slaughter without stunning is still very commonly used in China, in part because there is a belief that stunning reduces meat quality. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the physical (hemorrhages, pH, drip loss, and shear force) and chemical (inosinic monophosphate concentration and reducing sugar content) properties of broiler meat differed between chickens in preslaughter stunning and nonstunned slaughter groups, and whether the groups differed in their levels of cortisol as an indicator of stress. Serum cortisol levels of the nonstunned group were nearly twice as high as those in the stunned group (p < 0.05). Several meat quality indicators were better in the stunned group than in the nonstunned group. We concluded that electrical stunning prior to slaughter significantly decreases the stress caused by slaughter, resulting in both improved animal welfare and meat quality traits.
Keywords:
chicken; welfare; preslaughter stunning; meat quality; cortisol
