Effects of 3 Feeding Modes on the Volatile and Nonvolatile Compounds in the Edible Tissues of Female Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis)

To reveal the impact of different feeding modes on the flavor quality of female Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) this study was conducted to compare the sensory evaluation scores, flavor compounds in meat and hepatopancreas of female E. sinensis fed with 3 feeding modes, that is, natural diets (NDs), traditional diets (TDs), and formulated diets (FDs). The result showed that crabs fed with ND had significantly lower sensory scores than the other 2 feeding modes in both edible tissues. The odor and taste profiles were evaluated by Electronic nose (E-nose) and tongue (E-tongue) techniques, respectively; results of perchloric acid showed each edible tissue had significant differences among the 3 modes. Contents of volatile compounds were measured by Headspace-solid phase micro extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. A total of 35 and 44 volatile compounds were identified in meat and hepatopancreas, respectively. ND mode of meat had the highest relative odor activity value (ROAV) summation among the 3 diet modes. TD mode of hepatopancreas had significantly higher ROAV summations. Based on the analysis of free amino acids and 5' -nucleotides, nonvolatile compounds were evaluated by equivalent umami concentration (EUC) and taste active values (TAVs) methods. For both meat and hepatopancreas, TD had the highest contents of umami amino acid, as for the 5'-nucleotide, FD had the highest 5'-inosin monophosphate concentrations. Overall, the EUC and TAVs of TD were higher than that of FD, whereas ND mode had the lowest values in the 2 edible tissues. In conclusion, TD mode had the best performance in terms of sensory evaluation, ROAVs of aroma-active compounds, and nonvolatile active compounds.