Determination of the effect of transport stress on breast meat quality traits in broilers: a meta-analysis

Objective: The objective of this study was to synthesize the results of many experimental studies on the current subject and to determine the real effect of transport stress on some meat quality characteristics by meta-analysis. Material and Methods: The selection of articles that will form the basis of the study was determined through a systematic literature review using the Google Scholar database, and a total of 13 articles meeting the selection criteria were included in the meta-analysis. The search was limited to only one species (broiler) and other poultry species were not included in the study. Effect sizes were calculated in order to determine the significance of the difference between the transport stress and the control group. The Q statistic was used to determine the heterogeneity between studies. Results: A significant difference for the estimated effect size was found in the drip loss, and the effect size estimated according to the random model was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05) and close to the medium level (EBDL= 0.416). Conclusion: The results of the study show that exposure of broilers to transport stress at different times or distances before slaughter has no significant effect on breast meat quality characteristics, except for drip loss. According to the analysis, a significant difference was determined for breast meat drip loss; this result shows that transport stress may cause a decrease in meat quality by increasing breast meat drip loss.