Abstract:

The general nutrients and amino acids in muscles and the fatty acids in fat mass from male and female Chinese
soft-shelled turtles grown in greenhouse and imitative ecological farming conditions were determined. The results showed
that the ash contents of four types of turtle meat samples were relatively low (approximately 1%) and had no significant
difference. However, the fat contents were slightly different and significantly lower than that of wild turtle. The moisture
and protein contents of the eco-farmed turtle were significantly higher than those of the greenhouse turtle (P ＜ 0.05) of
the same gender and female turtle contained significantly higher levels of moisture and protein than male turtle (P ＜ 0.05)
under the same farming conditions. The same kinds but slightly different contents of amino acids were found in the four
turtle meat samples. The female turtle was observed to contain higher levels of total amino acids (TAA), essential amino
acids (EAA), delicious amino acids (DAA) and pharmacodynamic amino acids (PAA) than the male turtle under the same
farming conditions while the DAA and DAA/TAA of the eco-farmed turtle were significantly higher than those of the
greenhouse turtle of the same sex. No significant difference in EAA, PAA, EAA/TAA ratio or PAA/TAA ratio was found
between the turtles under different farming conditions. The greenhouse turtle showed the same fatty acid composition
except not containing C15:0, C17:0, C20:2 or C20:3 as the eco-farmed turtle. The amounts of total saturated fatty acids (ΣSFA)
and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexenoic acid (DHA)+ docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) of the male turtle were
significantly higher than those of the female one under the same farming conditions (P ＜ 0.05) while the female turtle contained more monounsaturated fatty acids (ΣMUFA) than the male one. However, the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (ΣPUFA)
of the female turtle was higher than that of the male one both grown in greenhouse conditions whereas the content ΣPUFA of the male
turtle were higher than those of the female one both in the imitative ecological farming conditions. The ΣSFA, ΣPUFA, and EPA +
DHA + DPA contents of the eco-farmed turtle were significantly higher than those of greenhouse turtle of the same sex.

Key words: Chinese soft-shelled turtle, nutrients, amino acid, fatty acid