Broiler meat is healthy and environmentally friendly muscle food. Its production and consumption have increased globally and in Finland for several years. However, during the broiler growth there will often appear muscle fibre degeneration and consequently muscle hardening in the breast muscles of the birds. The prevalence has become frequent after 2010, and it can be found no earlier than after slaughter. The term of this is ‘wooden breast', and although it does not cause a health risk for humans, it can be painful to the birds. This project studies the structure and function of the breast muscle at various ages. Additionally, in growth experiments we aim to study whether the feeding of broiler breeders or exercise of the broilers influence wooden breast prevalence. The study is conducted as a consortium of University of Helsinki and Natural Resources Institute Finland. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the wooden breast syndrome from the commercial poultry production.

2022

2026