USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., in which research shows that wooden breast condition has existed in broilers since the 1950s. The research was made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Ozark Mountain Poultry and is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing. A brief summary of the completed project is shown below. A complete report, along with information on other Association research, may be obtained by going to USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org. The project summary is as follows.
Project #691: Factors contributing to superficial pectoral myodegeneration and sclerosis (‘wooden breast’) in broilers
Researchers at North Carolina State University, led by Dr. John Barnes, recently completed a research project in which they studied the onset of wooden breast lesions in three breeds of modern broilers and a line of broilers from the 1950s. They found the condition in all of the broiler lines, including the 1950s line. The lesions were more severe in the modern broiler lines, and all modern lines had similar incidences and severity of lesions. Microscopic lesions in the breast muscle were identified in all lines of broilers at two weeks of age. The researchers propose a new name for this condition – Broiler Breast Myopathy.
