Abstract:

In this study the dorsal and abdominal muscles of turbot were divided into upper and lower portions to explore
differences in physicochemical properties, texture, histological characteristics and processing properties. The results showed
that the contents of moisture and crude protein were significantly different in four fish muscles with moisture content being
higher in upper back muscle and lower in lower abdominal muscle, and crude protein being higher in lower abdominal
muscle than three other muscles (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in fat and ash contents among various
muscles (parts). The shear force of upper back muscle was the highest while lower abdominal muscle had the highest
hardness. Chewiness and hardness were positively correlated with each other. The Van Gieson (V-G) staining results showed
there was no difference in structure between upper and lower back muscle, and between upper and lower abdominal muscle.
Back muscle was much tighter than abdominal muscle and the former exhibited smaller gap between muscle fibers. There
were some differences in heating rate and the time that elapses until the internal temperature reaches a stable value. As the
steaming time was extended, weight loss and water loss increased and both indices of abdominal muscle were higher than
those of back muscle. The shear force of both back and abdominal muscles dropped at first and then remained stable with no
difference observed between them (P > 0.05). This study can provide theoretical support for quality control of turbot muscle
products and better utilization of turbot muscle resource.

Key words: nutritional component, light microscope, texture profile analysis (TPA), shear force, water loss