The experiment was conducted at Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia - UNESP - Botucatu, Brasil, in order to evaluate the effect of breeder age on development, carcass yield and meat quality of broiler chickens. Eggs from breeders of the strain Ross x Ross with 29, 41, 58, 68 and 98 weeks of age were selected and incubated at identical conditions. After hatching, three thousand and six hundred day-old-chicks were randomly assigned in a 5 x 2 factorial design (5 breeder ages and 2 sexes) and reared until 49 days of age. At 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49 days of age, 25 birds per treatment were selected and processed after 8 hours of feed withdrawal period. The results obtained showed that the breeder age affected (p<.05) the breast thickness and breast meat yield at 49 days of age, with broilers originated from breeders of 29 weeks of age showing the best results. Breast and leg pH were very affected by the treatments, with birds originated from older breeders showed the smaller values and the birds originated from the younger breeders showed the highest values. The weight cooking loss and breast shear force were not influenced by breeder age.
steak; breast; pH; breeder age
