Comparison of Flavor Quality between Marine Cage-Cultured Small Yellow Croaker (Cyc) and Wild-Caught Small Yellow Croaker (Wyc) Based on Correlation Analysis and Entropy Weight Method

Abstract

With the increasing depletion of marine fishing resources for wild-caught small yellow croaker (WYC), marine cage-cultured of small yellow croaker (CYC) has received more and more attention. But the difference in flavor quality between them has not been reported. The flavor quality of CYC and WYC based on flavor analysis, sensory analysis, correlation analysis and entropy weight method was compared in this study. The sweet free amino acid and umami guanosine monophosphate (GMP) contents of CYC were significantly higher than those of WYC. Based on correlation analysis and entropy weight method, it was shown that His and Gly in FAA are characteristic flavor amino acids, and GMP and UMP effectively present flavor nucleotides. A total of 48 volatile compounds were identified from two species of small yellow croaker using SAFE combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Principal component analysis showed that there were significant differences in the volatile components of CYC and WYC. The sensory analysis results show that the sensory score of CYC is slightly higher than that of WYC. Therefore, through multi-faceted flavor analysis, this study shows that CYC is superior to WYC in a certain degree of flavor level, hoping to provide certain reference value for the expansion of the CYC market.

Keywords: small yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis), correlation analysis, entropy weight method, volatile compounds, active taste components