Influence of processing methods on quality and stability of silver catfish (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus)

The study assessed different processing methods (freezing, smoking, oven drying and boiling) on fillet nutritional quality and stability of silver catfish. All analyses followed standard procedure. Results of proximate composition showed significant increase (p< 0.05) in protein (51.98%), lipid (11.65%), ash (3.82%) and calorie (432.57 Kcal/g) contents in the dried fillets. Thus, these variable increased with increasing processing temperature. On the other hand, moisture and carbohydrate contents decreased with temperature. The stability indices showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in free fatty acid of frozen (0.21%), boiled (0.8%), smoked (2.96%) and dried (9.87%). The lowest calcium (39.7%) was recorded in the frozen sample while the highest level (53.12%) in oven dried. Thiobarbituric acid decreased with increase in processing temperature with the highest level (27.14 mg MDA/100g) observed in the frozen fillet while the least value (2.08 mg MDA/100g) was obtained in the boiled samples. Calcium and phosphorus contents did not show any particular trend. The smoked fish fillet had the highest fibre content of 2.6%. Total volatile base nitrogen was generally low in all treatments. Inference from this study revealed that differently processed Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus was a rich source of fatty acids and essential minerals being very vital to the diet of humans.

Mineral digestibility of different animal sources for the silver catfish Rhamdia voulezi

This study aimed to evaluate the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter, crude protein, gross energy, and minerals of marine fish meal (MFM), salmon meal (SM), tilapia by-product meal (TBM), meat and bone meal (MBM), poultry by-product meal (PBM), blood meal (BM), and feather meal (FM) by silver catfish Rhamdia voulezi. Groups of 12 fish were fed the experimental diet three times a day until apparent satiation, and the fecal samples were collected from an accumulation device. SM and PBM exhibited the highest digestibility values for dry matter, crude protein, and gross energy, while MBM and FM presented significantly lower ADCs for dry matter. BM and FM exhibited higher ADCs for phosphorus, 65.05 and 63.87%, respectively. The ADCs for calcium were 58.8% for MFM, 56.69% for TBM, and 60.08% for PBM. PBM and FM had the highest iron ADCs, 44.01 and 46.29%, respectively. Magnesium ADCs ranged from 44.87% for MBM to 75.50% for TBM. BM had the highest digestibility for zinc (62.77%), whereas MBM (36.68%) and FM (39.39%) had the lowest. In general, SM and PBM showed higher values as feedstuffs for silver catfish feeds. At the same time, the digestibility was lower for TBM and MBM for macronutrients and minerals such as phosphorus, iron, and zinc.