Proximate and Amino Acid Composition of Freshwater Fish of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Background: The study aimed to evaluate proximate and amino acids profile of selected freshwater species from Nagpur, India. Nutritional composition of calbasu (Labeo calbasu), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and pangasius (Pangasianodon pangasius) was investigated to make aware the consumer about the present nutrient composition of these fish. Methods: Iced Calbasu, Silver carp, Tilapia and Pangasius fish were procured from Mayo fish market, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India and brought to the laboratory of Fish Processing Technology, College of Fishery Science, Nagpur. The marketable sized (average weight of 0.5-1.3 kg) fish were used for evaluation of proximate composition the methods of AOAC (2005). The amino acids profiling of fish samples were assessed by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC, Shimadzu LC-6A). Result: The variation (p less than 0.05) in nutrient composition viz. proximate and amino acids of these fish mainly due the effect of feed composition, feeding habits, geographical condition and availability of feed etc. The major components of proximate composition, moisture (75.75-77.53%), protein (14.52-18.01%), lipids (2.45-6.71%) and ash (1.10-2.09%) were recorded. The protein content was relatively stable in all species. The carbohydrate was found to be lower than 1.5%. The energy value of the fish species was between 94.81-123.51 Kcal. The pangasius had higher energy value due to high amount of fat content. During the study, the concentrations of essential amino acids (EAA) in all fish species ranged from 25.48 g/100 g to 29.41 g/100 g, while amounts of non-essential amino acids (NEAA) ranged between 27.94 g/100 g and 31.27 g/100 g. Lysine (5.14-6.31 g/100 g) and glutamic acid (6.26-8.72 g/100 g) were the most predominant amino acids found in EAA and NEAA respectively in all species. The higher level of essential amino acids was found in tilapia fish followed by silver carp, calbasu and pangasius. The results of the present study revealed that, all species have high nutritional value in terms of proximate and amino acids to offer positive health benefits upon consumption.