Nutritional Evaluation of Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia quineesis Fishes from River Doma in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Aims: This work evaluates the nutritional quality of Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia guineensis fishes from River Doma in Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

Study Design: African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and tilapia (Tilapia guineensis) contribute enormously to the developing nation's nutritional, growth, and development needs, especially in terms of high protein retention in the human body.

Methodology: Oven-dried Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia guineensis were analyzed using standard analytical techniques for proximate, mineral and amino acids compositions.

Results: The respective proximate values (g/100 g sample dry weight) of Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia guineensis were high in crude protein (48.33 and 67.82) and crude fat (26.11 and 14.83) but low in crude fibre (3.22 and 3.91) and moisture (0.23 and 0.33). The calculated fatty acids and metabolizable energy for the two fish samples were (20.89 and 11.86 %) and (2004.98 and 1799.48 KJ/100 g), respectively. The most abundant minerals in the samples were potassium (321.72 and 364.23 mg/100 g) and phosphorus (210.54 and 213.74 mg/100 g), whereas manganese, iron, and copper were of low concentration (< 0.5 mg/100 g). Leucine, phenylalanine, and lysine were the most abundant essential amino acids in both samples. At the same time, glutamic and aspartic acids together with arginine account for more than 35 % of total amino acids in each of the investigated samples. Total essential amino acids (TEAA) with histidine and total sulphur amino acids (TSAA) were (33.10 and 2.54 g/100 g cp) for Clarias gariepinus and (36.18 and 2.92 g/100 g cp) for Tilapia quineensis, respectively. Meanwhile, valine and lysine were the first and second limiting amino acids in this study's samples, respectively.

Conclusion: The fish samples were found to be good sources of quality proteins and both have the functional and essential amino acids.