ORIGINAL PAPER
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to validate a novel computerized method of ultrasound image analysis to determine chemical composition of pectoralis major muscles in broiler chickens. Ultrasonograms of pectoral muscles in the longitudinal and transverse planes were obtained from 40 birds just before slaughter. All chemical constituents of muscle samples were determined with the validated laboratory techniques, and the results served as a benchmark for developing the present algorithmic estimates of chicken meat composition. An inhouse developed algorithm (r-Algo) was used to normalize the ultrasonograms and to identify pixel intensity ranges for which linear correlations between mean numerical pixel values and the content of various chemical constituents were the strongest (based on the values of correlation coefficients), using a stepwise sequestration of ultrasound bitmaps. Percentages of chemical constituents were the dependent (accepted) variables and the results of echotextural analyses (luminance or pixel intensity), carried out with a commercially available image analysis software (ImageProPlus®), were the explanatory variables. The predictive regression equations were determined in 30 randomly selected algorithm-training experimental units, and their accuracy was tested in a subset of 10 birds allocated to the algorithm-validation group. Significant determination coefficients were found for all chemical constituents studied, with the accuracy ranging from 62.70% (linoleic acid, transverse plane, pixel range of 141–142) to 96.65% (total hypocholesterolemic acids, longitudinal plane, pixel range of 136–150). The present validation results indicate that accurate prediction of muscle chemical composition using echotextural image analyses is feasible after identifying specific pixel intensity ranges.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are indebted to Zachary Silverman and Arvin Asgharian Rezaee (work-study and summer students in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ontario Veterinary College) for their work on the Python version of the r-Algo computer program and desktop app, and Dr. David J. Hobson of the Research Innovation Office, University of Guelph, for his invaluable guidance with the r-Algo patenting process. Parts of the current results were presented, in a preliminary form, during the Summer Career Opportunities and Research Exploration Program Symposium (Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada; 13 August 2019), the virtual Graduate Student Research Symposium (Ontario Veterinary College, Universi-ty of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada; 25 August 2020), and the EAAP + WAAP + Interbull Congress in Lyon, France (26 August- 1 September, 2023).
FUNDING
Canada Foundation for Innovation; Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Guelph, ON, Canada; University of Agriculture in Kraków, Poland; and Ontario Pork co-funded this study.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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