Evaluation of muscle quality of male and female Trachinotus ovatus

In this study, we compared and evaluated the nutrients contents in male and female Trachinotus ovatus muscle by routine biochemical analysis methods, and performed a nutritional evaluation of amino acids and fatty acids. The results show that the fat content of male muscle was significantly higher than that of female muscle (P<0.05), and the water content was significantly lower than that of female muscle (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in muscle protein content and ash content of the muscle (P>0.05). The brightness value of male muscle was significantly higher than that of female muscle (P<0.05), and the shear force was significantly lower than that of female muscle (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the other physical properties of muscle (P>0.05). Seventeen common amino acids had been detected in both male and female muscle. Among them, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, alanine, histidine, arginine, proline, non-essential amino acids, semi-essential amino acids, fresh amino acids and total amino acids were significantly lower than those of female muscle (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the other amino acids (P>0.05). According to the amino acid score (AAS) and chemical score (CS), the first restricted amino acid for both male and female T. ovatus was methionine, followed by valine. The essential amino acid index of female was higher than that of male (63.26 for female and 58.02 for male). The composition and proportions of the essential amino acids in T. ovatus muscle basically met the FAO/WHO standard. There was no significant difference in the fatty acid content, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and EPA+DHA in male and female muscle (P>0.05), but the Σn-6PUFA/Σn-3PUFA in male muscle was higher than that of female muscle (3.02 for male and 2.75 for female). Thus, comprehensive evaluation shows that female T. ovatus has higher edible value than male.