Evaluation of rancidity rate of oil in selected fish species harvested from Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands, Nigeria (original) (raw)

ABSTRACT Fish contains fats/oils as part of their nutrients which undergo rancidity just as other oils. The rancidity of oils within fishes denotes fish spoilage. In this work, time course monitoring of oil rancidity in five fish species; tilapia, mud, cat, elephant snout and butter fishes harvested from Hadejia-Nguru wetland was carried out by the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value method to know their keeping quality. It was found that, at six hour keeping, elephant snout, Mud and butter fishes were no longer fresh based on their respective TBA values of 7.40, 7.10 and 6.50 mgMA/kg. The TBA values of 9.50, 11.0 and 8.50 mgMA/kg, respectively for butter, elephant snout, and mud fishes at twelve hours of keeping indicated that they have spoiled, while Tilapia and cat fishes with TBA values of 6.60 and 8,00mgMA/kg, respectively at the same twelve hours of keeping show the fishes to have better keeping quality than the other three species. Generally, preservative measures are required for cat, tilapia and mud fishes within nine hours of storage and elephant snout and butter fishes need preservative measures immediately after harvest for their long keeping.