Review links broiler muscle growth gains to myopathy risk

A new review in Animals pulls together the evidence on how modern broiler breeding and nutrition have changed muscle fiber growth in commercial meat birds, and how those same gains in growth efficiency have coincided with the rise of breast muscle myopathies including wooden breast, white striping, and spaghetti meat. The paper, by Md Raihanul Hoque, Casey Owens, and Craig Coon, frames these defects as a consequence of post-hatch muscle fiber hypertrophy outpacing vascular support and normal repair capacity, leading to degeneration, inflammation, fibrosis, fat deposition, and poorer meat quality. Related literature cited by the authors and other recent reviews suggests these conditions are especially associated with fast-growing, high-breast-yield broilers, while mitigation efforts have focused on genetics, nutrition, and management rather than any single fix. (mdpi.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals working in poultry health and production, the review is a reminder that these are not food safety defects so much as multifactorial production, welfare, and quality problems tied to growth biology. They can affect flock performance, carcass downgrades, processing yield, and customer acceptance, and they often overlap with broader questions about genotype selection, bird size, environmental management, and muscle health surveillance. USDA ARS and other researchers have also linked these myopathies, especially wooden breast, to impaired water-holding capacity and processing performance, which helps explain why they remain a costly concern despite years of industry attention. (mdpi.com)

What to watch: Expect more work on early detection, genotype-specific risk, and practical mitigation strategies that can reduce incidence without giving up too much on growth and breast yield. (aviagen.com)