Relationship of Skeletal Muscle Development and Growth to Breast Muscle Myopathies: A Review

Selection in meat-type birds has focused on growth rate, muscling, and feed conversion. These strategies have made substantial improvements but have affected muscle structure, repair mechanisms, and meat quality, especially in the breast muscle. The increase in muscle fiber diameters has reduced available connective tissue spacing, reduced blood supply, and altered muscle metabolism in the breast muscle. These changes have increased muscle fiber degeneration and necrosis but have limited muscle repair mechanisms mediated by the adult myoblast (satellite cell) population of cells, likely resulting in the onset of myopathies. This review focuses on muscle growth mechanisms and how changes in the cellular development of the breast muscle may be associated with breast muscle myopathies occurring in meat-type birds.