Effects of pre-slaughtering holding with water-misting sprays and forced ventilation on meat quality of broiler after summer transport

The effects of novel holding treatment after summer transport of broilers on meat quality were investigated. 2 groups were studied: 1) TR group, which underwent 45 min transport followed by 1h rest (TR); 2) TWFR group, which underwent 45 min transport followed by 15 min water-misting sprays with three-dimensional forced ventilation and 45 min rest (TWFR). Compared with TR, TWFR treatment significantly increased pH24 value （24 h）of meat (P<0.05). TWFR treatment was also found to have significantly reduced 2.02% drip loss and 3.92% cook loss (P<0.05), which were associated with a clear shift toward lower relaxation times of nuclear magnetic resonance T21 position and significantly higher Raman spectrum tyrosine doublet ratio (I850/I830) (P<0.05). The significant difference in Raman spectrum indicates protein function diversity between raw TWFR and TR meats (P<0.05) on α-helix and β-sheet content, respectively. The diversity may be attributed to the difference of the protein conformation caused by pre-slaughter treatment. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that TWFR is an effective pre-slaughtering method to assure meat protein function during summer.