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. 2025 Apr 8;14(8):1287.
doi: 10.3390/foods14081287.

Improvement of Physiological Metabolism and Flavor Quality of Eriocheir sinensis Ovaries by Dietary Supplementation with Antarctic Krill Meal

Siqi Zhou  1   2 , Renyue Zhang  1   2 , Zehui Qiu  1   2 , Yuyao Shi  1   2 , Shaicheng Zhu  3   4   5 , Xugan Wu  3   4   5 , Xichang Wang  1   2 , Long Zhang  1   2
Affiliations

Improvement of Physiological Metabolism and Flavor Quality of Eriocheir sinensis Ovaries by Dietary Supplementation with Antarctic Krill Meal

Siqi Zhou et al. Foods. .

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of dietary Antarctic krill meal (AKM) on the physiological metabolism and flavor quality of adult Eriocheir sinensis ovaries during the postharvest temporary rearing. The AKM concentrations tested were 0% (including negative control group and positive control group), 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%. The results indicate that the E. sinensis ovaries in 8% AKM group produced the highest levels of aroma compounds after thermal processing, including hexanal, heptanal, phenylacetaldehyde, 3-octanone, and 2-methylbutanoic acid ethyl ester. The 8% AKM and negative control group were analyzed by UPLC-MS/MS combined with the nontargeted and widely targeted metabolomics technique. The AKM altered the composition of aroma precursors by adjusting the metabolism of glycerophospholipid, linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, and amino acid in ovaries. Moreover, lipids composed of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were significantly upregulated (p < 0.05). Dietary supplementation with 8% AKM had the best effect on improving the ovarian flavor quality of E. sinensis. During the postharvest temporary rearing, more aromatic precursors were produced by regulating physiological metabolism. The ovarian flavor was enhanced by lipid oxidation, Maillard reaction, and Strecker degradation during thermal processing.

Keywords: Antarctic krill meal; Eriocheir sinensis; flavor quality; metabolomics; physiological metabolism; thermal reaction pathways.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Analysis of volatile compounds in E. sinensis ovaries from different AKM addition groups using GC-IMS. (A) PCA plot; (B) differential comparative chromatogram; and (C) fingerprint spectra. NG: negative control group; PG: positive control group; 2%: 2% AKM addition level; 4%: 4% AKM addition level; 6%: 6% AKM addition level; and 8%: 8% AKM addition level.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Multivariate statistical analysis of E. sinensis ovarian samples with different AKM addition groups. (A) Ring chart of categories of metabolites; (B) mass spectrometry data set PCA score plot; (C–F) the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score plots, (C) ER vs. NR; (D) NC vs. NR; (E) EC vs. ER; (F) EC vs. NC. NR: negative control raw ovary; NC: negative control cooked ovary; ER: experimental raw ovary; and EC: experimental cooked ovary.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Differential metabolite (DMs) analysis of E. sinensis ovaries in Group 1 (VIP > 1, p < 0.05). (A) Volcano plot; (B) cluster heatmap; (C) bar chart; (D) the top 20 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment pathways; and (E) differential abundance score chart. Group 1: ER vs. NR; ER: experimental raw ovary; and NR: negative control raw ovary.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Differential metabolites (DMs) analysis of E. sinensis ovaries in Group 2 and Group 3 (VIP ≥ 1, p < 0.05). (A) Venn diagram; (B) bar chart; (C) cluster heatmap; and (D,E) Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Group 2: NC vs. NR; Group 3: EC vs. ER; NR: negative control raw ovary; NC: negative control cooked ovary; ER: experimental raw ovary; and EC: experimental cooked ovary.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Metabolic pathways of key aroma precursors from E. sinensis ovarian during cultivation and thermal processing.
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