Meat Quality of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Brown Trout (Salmo trutta fario) Farmed in Bulgaria

Background: Fish meat is outlined with high nutritional value having essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, mineral and vitamins. In this short report, we compared the meat quality of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) farmed in Bulgaria. Methods: Ten fishes from each species were purchased from a fish farm and their morphological parameters were determined. The technological properties of meat were analyzed such as water holding capacity and cooking loss as well as chemical composition such as water content, protein, fat, dry matter, and ash. Results were processed by STATISTICA 6.0 software. Results: Higher values were significantly determined in brown trout for standard body length (p<0.05), body height (p<0.001), and body width (p<0.01); while differences in total body length were not relevant (p>0.05). Water holding capacity of rainbow trout meat (9.49±3.86%) was considerably better (p<0.001) than that of brown trout meat (15.85±1.11%). Cooking loss in rainbow trout (31.78±6.17%) was lower (p<0.001) than that of brown trout meat (44.48±4.20%). Protein, fat, and dry matter contents were higher in brown trout (p<0.001). No statistically significant differences were found out with respect to ash content (p>0.05). Conclusion: Meat of rainbow trout cultivated in Bulgarian farm exhibited better technological properties than that of cultivated brown trout; however, nutritional value of brown trout meat was superior.