Significant Augmentation of Sunshine Bass Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis Fillet Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acid Content without Impact on Oxidative Stability or Sensory Attributes

Abstract

We evaluated production performance, fillet composition, and sensory integrity of sunshine bass (Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis) fed a marine oil-based finishing feed after being raised on a plant oil-based production feed. Two feeds containing either corn oil (CO) or menhaden oil (MO) were fed to sunshine bass according to different feeding regimens at the close of the production cycle: control groups were fed the CO or the MO feeds exclusively; remaining groups were transitioned from the CO feed to the MO feed at 4-, 8- or 12-week intervals. Replacing MO with CO yielded fillets with distinctly different fatty acid profiles; however, finishing with an MO-based feed for 4–8 weeks offered significant compensation for reductions in fillet nutritional quality. Production performance and fillet sensory characteristics were largely unaffected by dietary lipid source, suggesting fillet fatty acid profile can be manipulated to maximize nutritional value of cultured fillets without reducing consumer acceptance.

Keywords:

• Morone spp.
• long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid
• fillet quality
• finishingfeed

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Darren Ellison, Andrew Coursey, Adam Jarosinski, Craig Kasper, David Knuth, Heidi Lewis, Angela Merkel, Lance Schuler, and Bruce Tetzlaff for their help in data collection. We also thank Drs. Juan Silva and Taejo Kim for conducting the fillet sensory analyses. The material presented is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0227925. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.