Short‐term starvation in Megalobrama amblycephala ♀ × ( Megalobrama amblycephala ♀ × Culter alburnus ♂) ♂: Effect on the histology, essential nutrients and flavour components

Abstract

To research the relationship between meat quality and short-term starvation in the blunt snout bream backcross variety [Megalobrama amblycephala♀ × (M. amblycephala♀ × Culter alburnus♂) ♂], we addressed the effect of fasting and re-alimentation on essential nutrients and histology structure, flavour nucleotides in muscles, and analyzed the changes of taste profile in backcross variety by electronic tongue. Our data showed that the essential nutrients, equivalent umami concentration (EUC) and taste profile were found to slightly change in 5-days fasting stage meat; meanwhile, the histology of the gut and liver has no significant change. However, the flavour composition was improved to enhance meat quality in comparison with control. When prolong starvation to 10-days or 20-days, the flavour components promoted continuously, and the crude fat levels were decreased, although the histologically injured intestine and liver are aggravated. Therefore, in addition to cross-breeding to improve meat quality, short-term starvation for 5 days without histological damage is also a way to improve meat quality in blunt snout bream backcross variety.