Sensory Enhancement Of Freshwater Prawns Through Post-Harvest Salt Acclimation

Freshwater prawns, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, were harvested and transferred to holding tanks containing aerated well water. One group of prawns was held in the well water without any addition of salt (control). For post-harvest salt acclimation, experimental treatments consisted of different salt sources (solar, halite, marine) that were initially added to achieve a salinity of 10 ppt. Then, 5-ppt increases occurred every two hours until the salinity was 30 ppt, with 10-h exposure at this salinity prior to harvesting. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used to evaluate the effect of salt type on the sensory acceptability (n=60 consumers per replication) of prawns. All treatments had mean acceptability scores between like slightly and moderately; inclusion of solar, marine, and halite salts all enhanced (p < 0.05) flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. In addition, the clusters with the greatest numbers of consumers (n > 100) liked all treatments but preferred (p < 0.05) prawns from the solar or halite salt treatments over those from the control treatment. The addition of solar or halite salt enhanced the sensory acceptability of prawns, but further testing is needed to optimize acclimation conditions as comparatively high mortality occurred in two acclimation treatments.