effects of CO2, clove oil stunning procedure and asphyxia on meat quality in Common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

A pre-slaughter stunning procedure is one of the most important steps in management of the fish meat quality. The aim of the present study was to evaluate meat quality of Common carp affected by different stun-slaughtering procedures. In this investigation effects of 3 experimental treatments consist of 1) stunning carps via submerging in saturated CO2 bath, 2) stunning carps through immersion into bath containing clove oil and 3) common fish slaughtering method (Asphyxia), were evaluated on meat quality of Common carp. Results revealed that anaesthetizing and killing procedures significantly made effect on meat quality compared to the immersion in clove oil method (p<0.05). We have shown that muscle pH varied significantly within trial time and among the experimental groups (p<0.05). Immediately after death, mean muscle pH for CO2, clove oil and asphyxia groups were 6.34, 6.48 and 6.99, respectively. At 72 h postmortem, fish in clove oil group had the lowest drip loss (p<0.05). Asphyxia group had the highest mean refraction index throughout the post mortem period. Meanwhile, different stunning procedures significantly affected the fillet and skin color (p<0.05). It seems that stun/killing fish with clove oil preserve meat quality more than the other methods