Abstract
The mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio) belongs to the cyprinids, the world's largest and most important fish family in aquaculture. The fat content and the fillet yield are important parameters in the marketing of carp. Although the influence of the environment on the body composition of the carp has been well studied, there is little research in the field of breeding. For this purpose, precise phenotyping is indispensable. Therefore, during this study a total of 33 mirror carps were examined using computed tomography (CT) technology. First, the fish were examined alive. Total body weight and linear measurements such as lengths, height and circumferences were measured, and ultrasound was used to determine the back-fat thickness. The fish were then slaughtered and whole body scans of all fish using CT were made. The carps were filleted and the fillets with skin were chemically analyzed.In order to predict the chemical fillet fat content, thickness measurements and volume calculations of the back fat were carried out using CT. Compared to the CT-based back-fat thickness measurement correlated with the results from the chemical analysis (), the CT-based volume measurement of the back fat leads to a higher coefficient of determination (). Prediction results can still be improved by adding linear measurements. The in vivo ultrasound (US) examination of the back-fat thickness was compared with the CT back-fat thickness results. The measurements of the back-fat thickness took place at similar positions in the fish. Coefficients of determination () of 0.63 to 0.77 were obtained. The back fat in mirror carp proved to be an interesting area for determining the fillet fat content.The evaluation of the fillet yield resulted in a mean value of 42.89 % with a standard deviation of . Fillet yield (%) correlated with CT-based fillet thickness measurement resulted in a moderate coefficient of determination ( of 0.45). A similar coefficient of determination was achieved with selected linear measurements.
Highlights
Aquaculture will play a major role in feeding the growing world population, which will mean feeding nearly 10 billion people by 2050 – in this context aquaculture is of particular interest when it comes to solving the upcoming global protein deficiency (Evans, 2009; Searchinger et al, 2018)
The fillet yield was calculated as a percentage of the fillet weight of the total body weight
It can be concluded that a volume calculation of the back fat based on three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) images provides a more accurate prediction with regard to the fillet fat content than two-dimensional measurements of the back fat using single CT images or ultrasound
Summary
Aquaculture will play a major role in feeding the growing world population, which will mean feeding nearly 10 billion people by 2050 – in this context aquaculture is of particular interest when it comes to solving the upcoming global protein deficiency (Evans, 2009; Searchinger et al, 2018). Cyprinids are the most important and largest fish family. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is the third most produced species in aquaculture (FAO, 2018). It is a very sustainable fish, which is typically kept under extensive or semi-intensive conditions. The environmental conditions have a huge impact on the performance of carp, and pond management has been a major focus of attention (Horváth et al, 2008). Breeding is a complementary way to produce tasty carps. For the selection of suitable parents a method is required to analyze the carcass quality in vivo
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