Comparative Study of the Flesh Quality of Clarias gariepinus in Farm-raised and Wild Populations

Aim. Nutrients analysis of wild and farmed raised African catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell, 1822) were studied. The comparative work was carried out to find out if habitat could affect the nutrient composition of the fish.

Study design: Five live C. gariepinus were obtained for three wild location and three fish farm each (n=30). One-way analysis of variance was use to examine the nutrients composition across the study locations.

Methodology: Five individual fishes were randomly selected from the forty individuals in a population obtained from six locations. They were sacrificed and cut into three (tail, middle and trunk) chunks. These were oven dried at a constant temperature of 105ºC using oven model LCON53CF. The samples were later blend using electric blender and kept in airtight nylon for further analysis. Standard methods were employed in the analysis of body nutrients.

Results: A significant difference was observed in proximate composition of C. gariepinus on dry matter bases. The moisture and lipids content were lower in wild C. gariepinus (5.16±0.07;15.27+0.08%) than farm raised (5.25±0.10%;18.54+0.08%). The average protein and ash contents in farm-raised C. gariepinus were significantly (p<0.05) lower (66.23+0.08%; 5.00+0.07%) than wild C. gariepinus (67.24+0.09%;9.06+0.07%). Organoleptic study revealed differences in taste between wild and farm raised C. gariepinus (p<0.05). The amino acids profile showed little disparity in quantity in wild and farm raised C. gariepinus. No significant difference (p>0.05) was noticed in the mean values of amino acids in wild (4.21) and farmed raised (4.16) C. gariepinus. The percentage of saturated fatty acids was higher (56.24%) in farmed raised C. gariepinus than the wild stocks (44.53%) unlike the unsaturated fatty acids that was higher in wild (79.46%) than the farmed raised (54.03%).

Conclusion: The study revealed that wild fish possess some nutritional advantages over the culture C. gariepinus.