Assessment of the textural variation of iced stored Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792) muscle tissue with emphasis on their collagen and myofibrillar protein content.

Post-mortem biochemical and physiological changes of climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) muscle evaluated during iced storage of 18 days compared with muscle protein content. Changes in the protein fractions, rigor index, pH value, water holding capacity, expressible water content, cook loss, textural parameters, and histochemical properties of the post mortem fish muscle were studied. The whole fish were in full rigor condition till fifth day of storage. Initial muscle pH value of 6.97 was dropped to 6.90 when the fish reached in full rigor condition, this then increased to 7.10 on the final day of storage period. The myofibrillar protein decreased with an initial value of 29.76% and a final value of 13.49%. 40.27% decrease in total collagen content was observed during the storage period. The water holding capacity of fish muscle decreased when the fish muscle entered in post rigor stage while cook loss and expressible water content were significantly increased. The histochemical studies and textural profile analysis of fish muscle proved that the degradation of both collagen and myofibrillar protein induces the post-mortem tenderization and the resultant quality deterioration of iced stored Anabas testudineus fish.