NUTRITIONAL QUALITY COMPARISON OF WILD, CULTURED CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) AND NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus)

NUTRITIONAL QUALITY COMPARISON OF WILD, CULTURED CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) AND NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus)

I.M. Fouad

Fish processing and quality control department, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

Abstract

Nutritional comparison was done between two fresh water fish species including Catfish Clarias gariepinus and Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus so as to establish the fish with better nutritional quality among the two fish species. Wild and cultured Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), are the cheapest commercial consumed fishes in Egypt. Their fillet yield, chemical composition, was subjected to evaluation according to the following items: (minerals, fatty acids, cholesterol levels), microbiological and organoleptic properties. Fillets weigh length and yield showed the highest values for the cultured Catfish fillets when compared with the wild Catfish, also showed the highest values for the cultured Nile tilapia fillets when compared with the wild Nile tilapia. Significant (P<0.05) differences in crude protein, total lipids, ash, carbohydrate % and energy calories were observed in cultured Catfish compared with wild Catfish and also, significant(P<0.05) were observed in Cultured Nile tilapia when compared with wild Nile tilapia. Fish that were examined in this study had more than 50% of the daily requirements of adult man from P and Mg. Cultured Catfish and Nile tilapia had elevated contents of mineral (Ca, Mg, P, Fe and K), mono unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) when compared with wild Catfish and Nile tilapia respectively. Non-significant (P<0.05) differences were exhibited in total bacterial count (TBC) and coliform count (CC) between four types of fishes. Staphylococcus count (SC) was not detected in all samples. Appearance, color, odour, texture and overall acceptability showed higher significant scores (P<0.05) for cultured, wild catfish followed by cultured, wild Nile tilapia, respectively.