Slight Increases in Salinity Improve Muscle Quality of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus)

Abstract

Fish muscle quality is an important parameter in the aquaculture industry. In this study, we analyzed and compared the muscle quality of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) cultured at salinities of 0‰, 3‰, and 6‰ (GC0, GC3, GC6). There was no significant difference in crude protein and crude fat content of muscle between GC0 and GC3. Crude fat was significantly lower in GC6 compared to the other groups. GC3 and GC6 had higher hydroxyproline content, which suggested that these groups had higher collagen content. GC3 and GC6 had higher contents of free amino acids and umami amino acids than GC0, but there was no significant difference in sweet or sour amino-acid content among groups. GC3 and GC6 had better texture properties, including hardness, gumminess, chewiness, resilience, and springiness, than GC0. GC3 had the highest water-holding capacity among the groups. As the salinity increased, the diameter of muscle fibers decreased and the sarcolemma showed a thickening trend. These results suggest that a slight increase in salinity (i.e., 3‰) can effectively improve the muscle quality of grass carp.

Physicochemical parameters and nutritional profile of back and abdomen muscle of fresh golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) and hybrid grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus × Epinephelus fuscoguttatus)

“…No significant difference in cooking was found between golden pompano and hybrid grouper ( p > .05). These results followed the water loss rate of grass carp reported by Zhang et al ( 2021 ). Water loss in the back muscle was examined higher in both fish species.…”

Molecular Characterization of Hsp47 in Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and Its Correlation with Type I Collagen in Response to Fish Aerobic Exercise

“…Therefore, we studied the relationship between Hsp47 and type I collagen in grass carp by evaluating their expression levels in the muscle of grass carp during aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise has been reported to have an important effect on fish muscle growth and type I collagen plays an important role in muscle, as it is the major constituent of fish intramuscular connective tissue [17,18,31,32]. In this study, type I collagen content of grass carp muscle increased significantly with increased water flow velocity, which suggested that aerobic exercise helps to improve the collagen content of muscle.…”

Effects of salinity treatment on muscle quality and off‐flavour compounds of grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella ) and black carp ( Mylopharyngodon piceus )

“…Fish with better textural properties have been reported to be preferred by consumers, resulting in a higher market price (Lin et al, 2009; Yu et al, 2020). Muscle‐texture profiles were analysed in grass carp cultured at salinities of 0‰, 3‰ and 6‰, and the results showed that the 3‰ and 6‰ groups had better texture properties, including hardness, chewiness, resilience and springiness, than did the 0‰ group (Zhang et al, 2021). In the present study, muscle samples from the C5 and C7.5 groups had the highest hardness and chewiness values, while the M5 and M7.5 groups had the highest springiness and chewiness values, which is consistent with the results of previous studies.…”

“…Significant differences have also been reported in the fatty acid content in rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ; Haliloǧlu et al, 2004) and Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ; Krogdahl et al, 2004) cultured in marine waters in comparison to those cultured in freshwater. One study on grass carp cultured at salinities of 0‰, 3‰ and 6‰ for 30 days showed that a slight increase in water salinity can increase the flavour amino acid (FAA) and total amino acids (TAA) content and improve the texture properties of the muscle (Zhang et al, 2021).…”