Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the effects of push-water aquaculture mode on the flesh nutritional quality of Scortum barcoo. Six fish with average body weight about 500g under the traditional ponds aquaculture and six under push-water aquaculture modes were selected to determine the muscle routine nutritional components, amino acids and fatty acids composition, respectively. The results showed that the crude protein, moisture and ash contents of fish muscle within push-water aquaculture mode increased significantly (P<0.05), but crude fat content decreased significantly (P<0.05). The glycine (Gly) was significantly decreased within push-water culture mode when compared to that in traditional ponds aquaculture mode, but there is no significant difference in the composition of the remaining amino acids (P>0.05). The ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acid (EAA/TAA) was 39%-40%, which is in line with the recommended ratio of FAO/WHO ideal model (EAA/TAA: 40%). The amino acid index (AAS), chemical score (CS) of threonine (Thr), tyrosine (Val), leucine (Leu), phenylalanine+tyrosine (Phe+Tyr) and lysine (Lys), as well as essential amino acid index (EAAI) within push-water aquaculture group were significant lower than those in the traditional pond aquaculture group (P<0.05). The total amount of saturated fatty acids in the push-water aquaculture group was significantly lower than that in the traditional pond aquaculture group (P<0.05). These findings suggested that compared to traditional pond aquaculture mode, the push-water aquaculture mode could reduce the composition of muscle fat and saturated fatty acid of S. barcoo, but increase the content of crude protein, which improves the muscle quality of S. barcoo.

Key words: Scortum barcoo, push-water aquaculture ecosystem, nutritional components, amino acids, fatty acids