Preliminary study for macroscopic determination of the white to red muscle ratio, and its correlation with flesh quality parameters

Abstract

In this preliminary study it was analized, how to measure the white to red muscle ratio in cross-sectional fillet slices of common carp strains, and wheter there exists a correlation between red muscle ratio and the conventional fish flesh quality parameters. Results showed that the method widely applied for stained liver sections is available to quantify the red muscle ratio within the fillet. From the strains analyzed the Attala Scaled was the most different from all othes compared (11±2.4, 18.7±6.2, 13.1±3.4 és 12.9±4.4%, by the Attala mirror, Attalai scaled, Hortobágy lean and Szeged mirror, resp.). The red muscle ratio and the conventional flesh quality parameters were found to provide poor correlations, the only significant was achieved with the fillet dry matter content (r=-0.35, P=0.043).