The muscular and skeletal system of poultry is a very complex and functional system. The importance of the skeletal system for poultry is to provide structure and the importance of the muscular system is to provide movement. These two systems are very vital and interconnected to one another. In order to understand the importance of these systems, one must further understand exactly how the skeletal system functions, how the muscular system functions and lastly how these two systems effect one another.
According to the Poultry Hub (2016), "The skeletal system provides the strong framework for the support and protection of the remainder of the systems, organs and tissues that make up the body of the fowl." …show more content…
The muscular system functions in both voluntary movements such as walking and flying and involuntary internal functions such as pumping blood (Poultry Hub, 2016). The muscular system of poultry is made up of three different types of muscles: Smooth, Cardiac, and Skeletal. Smooth muscles are a type of involuntary muscle tissue located in the internal organs. Cardiac muscles are involuntary muscles that pump blood throughout the body of the poultry. Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles that move the joints and are the most common type of poultry meat for human consumption. The muscular system of poultry works by receiving stimulus from the central nervous system signaling the muscles to contract. The white and dark meat that we associate with poultry is the result the amount of movement of the muscles. White meat is caused by inactive muscles while dark meat is the result of frequent muscle use (Extension, 2016).
The muscular and skeletal system of poultry are complimentary and vital to each other. Without a muscular system poultry would not be able to move and without a skeletal system poultry would have no structure. The muscular and skeletal system work together to provide the movement and protection poultry need to function. Muscles attach to and power the movement of bones in the poultries body and the skeleton provides provides the structural frame needed to facilitate movement. The poultry muscular and skeletal system are well designed and well coordinated feats of