By Hong Zhuang
Water-holding capacity (WHC) is an indicator of the ability of meat to retain its own and/or added water under external influences. It directly influences meat quality. 1H-NMR has been shown as an accurate and fast method for determination of water in meat and provides relevant information such as the mobility and the abundancy of water components in meat. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between WHC and the T2 parameters in poultry breast meat. Breast meat WHC was measured with drip loss and water (marinade) uptake. Transverse relaxation (T2) was measured using a TD-NMR device. The decay curves were analyzed with bi-exponential fitting analysis. Two distinct water components identified in meat were the intra-myofibrillar water with time constant around 50 ms (represented with T21) and the extra-myofibrillar water with time constant around 200 ms (represented with T22) with A21 (area of T21 component in NMR T2 spectra) and A22 (area of T22 component), respectively, indicating water mobility and abundancy of each component. For WHC measured using drip loss, no relationships (P > 0.05) were noted with either T21 or A21; however, significant and moderate relationship (r = 0.54) were found with T22 and significant and strong relationship (r = 0.68) with A22 (P < 0.05), indicating that the extra-myofibrillar water is associated with drip loss in chicken breast meat. There was significant and moderate relationship (r = 0.55) between A21 and WHC; however, significant and strong relationship (r > 0.79) were noted between any of T21, T22, and A22 and WHC measured using water uptake (P < 0.05), indicating that both intra- and extra-myofibrillar water components are involved in water uptake by chicken breast meat. These results suggest that the relationship between WHC and T2 parameters depends upon the methods used to determine WHC in poultry breast meat. 1H-NMR analysis can provide further information about WHC in meat.