Abstract: In this study, the effects of three plant-derived antimicrobial agents (carvacrol, thymol and perillyl alcohol) on the shelf-life and spoilage bacterial diversity of freshwater swamp shrimp meat were analyzed by traditional plate counting and Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that all the three agents could significantly prolong the shelf-life of shrimp meat stored at 4 or 10 ℃, and carvacrol and thymol were more effective than perillyl alcohol. Through high-throughput sequencing analysis, it was found that the major bacterial flora significantly changed after storage. The proportions of Arcobacter, Shewanella and Aeromonas, dominant in the samples during the early storage period, were reduced to very low levels during the later period, and Streptococcus, Brochothrix, Carnobacterium, Psychrobacter, Flavobacterium, and Pseudomonas became the dominant bacteria at the end of storage. The growth of Brochothrix, Carnobacterium, Psychrobacter, and Flavobacterium could be inhibited by the antimicrobial agents, making Pseudomonas the dominant bacteria in the treated samples. Based on the above results, these antimicrobial agents can significantly prolong the shelf-life of shrimp meat by inhibiting the growth of many dominant spoilage bacteria.

Key words: freshwater swap shrimp meat, Illumina MiSeq sequencing, spoilage bacteria, diversity, antimicrobial agents