Volume 62, Issue 340, January - April 2026

Characterization of broiler hybrids on nutrient profile and organoleptic characteristics of the thigh meat

Oluwatosin MA Jesuyon^1♦, Blessing Ife Babalola¹, Nafisat A Molumo¹, Emmanuel Opeyemi Oyebanji¹, Idowu Blessing Oladeji¹

¹Department of Animal Production and Health Federal University, P. M. B. 373 Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

^♦Corresponding Author
Oluwatosin M. A. Jesuyon, Department of Animal Production and Health, Federal University, P. M. B. 373 Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

In order to evaluate the effect of hybrid on nutrient composition and organoleptic characteristics of broiler thigh meat; broiler hybrids namely, Arbor acre, Cobb 500 and Ross 308 commercial broilers were assessed. These hybrids constituted the treatment. Each hybrid was replicated 3 times, while each replicate contained 51 birds, making a total of 459 birds. The Completely Randomized Design was adopted. GLM-ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD (α =0.05) procedures were used for nutrient analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis H, followed by Dunn’s mean separation, α=0.05, were used for analysis of sensory scores. The Principal Factor Analytical procedure (score-1) was used to expose the root contributions of hybrids to nutrient profile and sensory attributes. Cobb 500 thigh meat was higher in crude protein, fat, calories, sodium and potassium than Arbor acre and Ross 308 hybrids (P < 0.05); but hybrids showed similar average root contributions to nutrient content (PF-1 = -0.142 to 0.154) of the raw thigh. Cooked Ross 308 thigh meat revealed higher colour, aroma and average score (PFS-1 = 0.74-0.83) over Arbor acre and Cobb 500 hybrids; but hybrids were similar in all sensory characteristics except smoothness (K-W X2 = 9.39; P <0.009), where Arbor acre had lower mean rank of 130 against other two hybrids with minimum of 156. Cobb 500 was better in nutrient content, while Arbor acre hybrid was higher in thigh smoothness, and these could be selected explicitly for improvement.

Keywords: Poultry hybrids, nutrition; sensory attributes, factor scores, root contribution, broiler thigh meat.

Discovery, 2026, 62, e1d3199

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Published: 09 January 2026