Abstract: Headspace solid phase micro extraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed to detect the contents of taste-related amino acids, fatty acids, betaine and aroma components in the hepatopancreas, ovary, muscle of wild, “Keyong No. 1” and aquaculture populations of Portunus trituberculatus. For the evaluation of flavor and nutritional differences, statistical analysis of the obtained data was made by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that taste active values (TAV) of glutamate were greater than 1 in all tissues suggesting it to be the major contributor to the umami taste of all tissues, followed by glycine and alanine, both of which were the main contributors to sweetness. “Keyong No. 1” was superior to wild and cultured populations with respect to the amino acid-derived flavor, and glutamic acid, arginine, and alanine could be considered as the characteristic amino acids in the female hepatopancreas of “Keyong No. 1” and the muscle of male “Keyong No. 1” craba, respectively. The flavor of the populations in terms of betaine was decreased in the following order: wild > “Keyong No. 1” > aquacultural. A total of 33 fatty acids were detected in all the populations, while the contents of C18:2t(n-6) and C22:6(n-3) in the ovaries of aquacultural population were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those in wild and “Keyong No. 1” populations, respectively. The contents of C15:1 and C17:1 in the male hepatopancreas and the contents of C18:3(n-6), C20:3(n-6), C21:0, C22:2, C23:0, and C24:0 in the muscles of wild and “Keyong No. 1” male populations were significantly higher than those of farmed population, respectively. Consequently, it was proved that the wild and “Keyong No. 1” populations were superior to the aquacultural population with respect to the flavor contributed by polyunsaturated fatty acids. A total of 88 volatile flavor compounds were identified in the ovary of the three populations including alkanes, aldehydes, alcohols, esters, ketones and phenols. Among these compounds, 13 were common to all these populations with no significant differences being observed for their relative contents overall. The difference in the contents of branched alkanes and toluene in the three populations may be the main cause of the flavor differences, which needs to be confirmed in further study.

Key words: Portunus trituberculatus, solid phase micro-extraction (SPME), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), aroma components, flavor