Information about the difference in muscle pH
between shrimp cultured in sea water and shrimp
cultured in low salinity water is scarce in the scientific
literature. Xue et al. studied the pH of wild and
farmed Penaeus chinensis and found that wild
shrimp had a higher pH.11 In the present study, pH
was significantly higher in shrimp cultured in sea
water than in shrimp cultured in low salinity water.
Muscle pH is related to the postmortem evolution
of the flesh and is influenced by factors such as
species, feeding and time of year.17 Moreover,
Love18 believed that muscle pH reflects the glycogen
stores of the muscle (i.e. reduction of the pH
value is caused by formation of lactate from the
breakdown of muscle glycogen). In the present
study, the shrimp cultured under different salinity
conditions were sampled following the same procedure,
thus the pH results might reflect a lower
glycogen reserve in the muscle of shrimp cultured
in sea water compared to shrimp cultured in low
salinity water.