Comparative Assessment of Mineral, Proximate and Amino Acids Composition of Wild and Cultured Oreochromis niloticus and Clarias gariepinus

Abstract

Investigation was conducted on the comparative analysis on mineral, proximate and amino acid composition of wild and cultured Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Internationally accepted methods of AOAC were used for the AAS analysis while data were tested with ANOVA. Moisture content of wild Clarias gariepinus (21.71±0.07%) and Oreochromis niloticus (12.72±3.00%) were significantly different (p<0.05) from that of cultured C. gariepinus (19.19±0.02%) and O. niloticus (14.13±0.03%). Carbohydrate and ash contents of the fish were not significantly different (p>0.05). Protein content in C. gariepinus and O. niloticus ranged from 38.61±0.19% (in wild C. gariepinus) to 50.03±0.19% (in cultured O. niloticus). There were significant differences (p<0.05) for crude protein, crude fibre, crude fat, Na, Mg and K in the fish species but none for Fe, Pb, Cd and Ca. The highest Na (80.07±0.55mg/100g) was recorded in wild C. gariepinus and the least Na (27.43±0.50mg/100g) in cultured O. niloticus. Cultured O. niloticus had the highest Mg (92.48±0.50mg/100g) while the highest K (44.03±0.50mg/100g) was recorded in wild C. gariepinus. The contents of alanine (4.12±0.12 g/100g), serine (5.77±0.11 g/100g), and aspartate (8.71±0.05g/100g) of wild O. niloticus were higher (p<0.05) than those of other fishes. Cultured O. niloticus (5.55±0.05g/100g) had the highest value in proline, while wild C. gariepinus had the highest value in phenylalanine (5.28±0.50 g/100g), but cultured C. gariepinus had the highest isoleucine (4.80±0.03g/100g) and threonine (6.24±0.24g/100g). The proximate composition, amino acid and mineral contents of both cultured and wild fishes vary. Therefore, consumption of fish from both sources is recommended to meet diet requirements.