ABSTRACT

Comparative study of various spices on nutritive value and shelf life on Clarias gariepinus was experimented to determine which has the advantage over the rest. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with five treatments which were replicated twice. Treatment 1 was Piper guinensis, treatment 2 was Xylopia aethopica, treatment 3 was Monodora myrutica, treatment 4 was Citrus aurantfolia and treatment 5 was brine solution which serve as control. These spices were purchased from the market; ground and 20g of these spices were mixed with 300m1 of water and were allowed to boil for 5 minutes. They were soaked in them for 1 hour respectively. Brine solution was prepared by dissolving 350g of sodium chloride in one liter of water. The fish were washed, beheaded, degutted, treated with the various treatments and finally smoked. An initial proximate composition analysis and microbial analysis was carried out by selecting a random fish before treatment and then same analysis were carried out after smoking and weekly for 28 storage days. The organoleptic test analysis was done after smoking weekly for four weeks. The result of the work shows no significant difference Q>0 .05) across the treatments and weekly in both the total microbial load and the fungi load on a Nutrient Agar and Potato Dextrose Agar. However, Treatment 3 showed a better performance than the rest and treatment 5 the least. The same is true with the result of the proximate composition analysis and the organoleptic test analysis. M. myrutica was therefore the treatment with the highest acceptability and low microbial load count.