A study was carried out to compare the sensory characteristics and colour of meat from the commercial broiler (Group A), native chicken reared under intensive system (Group B) and free range systems (Group C).Twelve birds from each group with target weight of 1.3 kg were selected and slaughtered. The cooked muscles of breast and thigh were served hot separately to an eight-member taste panel. The results were recorded on a nine point hedonic scale with ascending ratings for the desired attributes of appearance, flavour, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability. Overall acceptability scores were comparable for broiler meat and meat of native chicken reared intensively. The breast meat and skin, thigh meat and skin and shank samples were collected from the slaughtered birds and stored frozen (− 20°C) upto 7 days and the colour was measured with a Hunterlab miniscan XE plus spectrophotometer to measure the values of L* (Lightness), a* (Redness) and b* (Yellowness). Although the colour scores did not show any significant difference for meat samples breast and thigh meat of native chicken reared under free range system had slightly darker red colour.
Intensive rearing, native chicken, sensory characteristics, meat colour score
