Yang, Chengbo (University of Manitoba)|Yang, Chengbo (Université du Manitoba)

Purpose

Poultry meat has been highly consumed mainly due to its health benefit, convenience in cooking, and reasonable cost. Recently, global attention has been drawn to the incidence of myopathies in modern poultry industry, including white striping and woody breast. These myopathies negatively affect the visual appearance, and nutritional value of the breast meat and consumer perception. Meat with these defects is downgraded or even discarded in the processing plant, leading to considerable economic loss to the poultry industry. There is a need for future research to elucidate the etiology of the muscle defects and then develop genetic, nutritional and /or management strategies to improve the broiler meat quality. Considering that one of primary markets for Wallenstein Feed & Supply Ltd. is poultry feed, it is an opportunity to develop nutritional solutions for preventing white striping and woody breast in broilers. Therefore, Wallenstein Feed & Supply Ltd. has decided to partner with the Yang lab to investigate the nutritional regulation of skeletal muscle development and breast muscle myopathies in broilers. For the current project, two specific objectives have been established. For Objective 1, we will establish in vitro oxidative stress and inflammation models using chicken muscle cells. For Objective 2, we will determine the effect of different feed ingredients and CaSR antagonists on oxidative stress and inflammation in chicken muscle cells. The proposed Engage project will support preliminary research and bridge relations between Wallenstein Feed & Supply Ltd. and the Yang laboratory. This funds will yield new knowledge about putative mechanisms that may form the basis of future partnership program applications (ie: NSERC CRD). _x000D_