Abstract:

In this paper, the nutritional qualities of muscle and calipash from two different strains of Trionyx sinensis were
analyzed by measuring moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash, minerals, amino acid composition and fatty acid composition.
The results showed that the crude protein contents of the muscles of female and male turtles from the Qingxi Flower and
Japanese strains were 18.46%, 17.25%, 19.17% and 18.83%, respectively, whereas those of calipash were 21.00%, 22.31%,
24.89% and 20.07%, respectively. The crude fat contents of the muscles of male and female turtles from both strains were
1.07%, 0.96%, 1.17% and 1.05%, compared to 0.23%, 0.32%, 0.30% and 0.27% for the four calipash samples, respectively.
The essential amino acids index (EAAI) of the muscles of female and male turtles from the Qingxi Flower and Japanese
strains are 93.92, 92.52, 91.89, and 93.12, respectively. These results indicate that the nutritional value of amino acids
for these two strains of turtle was very high suggesting that they are good sources of high-quality protein. The essential
amino acid/total amino acid ratios (EAA/TAA) of muscle were 37.10%, 36.67%, 36.48% and 36.76% for female and male
turtles from the Qingxi Flower and Japanese strains, whereas those of calipash were 17.74%, 19.73%, 17.80% and 17.81%,
respectively. The muscles of female and male turtles from the two strains were rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. The
contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexenoic acid (DHA) of the four muscle samples were 14.98%, 13.97%,
16.20% and 19.22%, respectively, implying an approximate 3% increase for the Japanese strain over Qingxi Flower.

Key words: Qingxi Flower turtle, Trionyx sinensis Japanese strain, nutritional composition, quality evaluation