Proximate, Mineral, Vitamin Compositions, Mineral Safety Index and Mineral Ratios of the Flesh of Heterosexual Pairs of Neopetrolisthes maculatus

Abstract

The flesh of female and maleNeopetrolisthesmaculatuswas used for the determination of proximate, minerals, vitamins compositions, mineral safety index (MSI) and mineral ratios (MRs). The values of crude fat, carbohydrate, total ash, moisture and fatty acid were more concentrated in the female than male sample. These parameters: crude protein, carbohydrate, total ash and moisture were relatively high in both samples. The coefficient of variation percent (CV %) values ranged between 2.57 - 10.9 showing the value variations to be low. Both the total metabolisable energy and utilizable energy due to protein were higher in male than in female as shown: 1078 kJ 100g-1(male) >1055 kJ100g-1(female) and 41.3 (male) > 38.8 (female). All the mineral levels in the female sample were higher than in the male sample. These minerals were of high concentration (mg 100g-1) in the samples: Cu (15.9 - 16.3), Mn (5.73 - 6.21), Ca (542 – 562), Mg (652 – 682), K (317 – 329), Na (395 – 413) and P (1132 – 1143). Most of the mineral ratios were very low when compared to the ideal, those that were high were much higher than the ideal, and they were: Ca/Pb (492631 – 562195; ideal (id) = 84.0), Fe/Pb (1685-2083; id =4.40) and K/Co (1919-2082; id =2000) but values in Zn/Cd and Fe/Co were high but lower than the ideal values as shown: Zn/Cd (207 – 238; id =500) and Fe/Co (12.2-12.2; id =440). High mineral ratios were mainly observed in ratios involving trace elements. Mineral safety index of major concern in nutrition was observed in Mg and Cu in both samples. However the MSI aberration was more pronounced in the female than in the male. In the vitamin profiles niacin (B3) was the only vitamin higher in value in male than female out of eleven vitamin parameters determined. B3in male was just 3.48% greater than in female whereas vitamins that had higher values in female than in male had higher percentage values that ranged between 4.22 - 15.0. All these parameters were significantly different at r= 0.01between the two samples: proximate, percentage energy distribution, mineral, mineral ratios and vitamin composition. On pairwise comparison, the parameters determined were more concentrated in the female that the male; this could be due to the biological function of the female as a “mother crab”.