• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.739-743
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• 2006

Postmortem proteolysis of breast (BM) and leg (LM) muscles from Taiwan colored chickens (TCC) and silkie bantams (SB) at $5^{\circ}C$ were compared. Myofibrils were prepared from BM and LM samples that were randomly taken from the carcasses of SB and TCC after 0, 1, 3, 7 and 14 days of storage at $5^{\circ}C$. pH of samples was determined, and degradation of myofibrillar proteins was analyzed by the SDS-PAGE and western blots. The results showed that pH was lower in BM than in LM samples from both avian strains. Appearance of 30 kDa components and disappearance of titin and nebulin were more rapidly as seen on SDS-PAGE in BM than in LM samples. Western blots labeled with a monoclonal antibody to desmin also demonstrated that desmin degraded more quickly in BM samples. Our data might suggest that postmortem proteolysis occurred more rapidly in BM than in LM from both TCC and SB.