Proximate composition of three commercially available marine dry fishes (Harpodon nehereus, johnius dussumieri and Lepturacanthus savala)

Abstract

Dry fish is very common and low cost food stuff among the South-east Asian people. The nutritional aspect of dry fish is higher than the fresh fish. Dry fish is not only consumed by human but also used in fish and poultry feed formulation. The general purpose of this study is to determine the proximate composition of three available marine dry fishes namely Bombay duck (Harpodon nehereus), Sin croaker (Johnius dussumieri) and Ribbonfish (Lepturacanthus savala). Major nutrient compositions like protein, lipid, carbohydrate, moisture and ash were estimated in two different season, winter and monsoon, respectively. The results of this study is revealed that the mean percentages of protein, lipid, carbohydrate, ash and moisture content of these species ranged between 52.44-71.32, 4.92-8.64, 0-3.71, 4.68-6.72 and 14.15-33.28%, respectively. The protein and lipid content were found relatively higher in amount from the dry fish samples collected in winter season compare with monsoon season. Negative correlations were found between moisture and protein content of most of the dry fish species collected in monsoon season (r = -0.98; r = -0.96, and r = -0.95, p<0.05 for Bombay duck, Sin croaker and Ribbonfish, respectively). However, the findings are showed that marine dry fishes are highly nutritive and could be a substitute of other protein sources such as fresh fish, chicken, beef etc. © 2012 Academic Journals Inc.