Nutritive Value of Fish Meal

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the variations in the chemical composition of different types of fish meal available in different metropolitan areas of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Fifteen different types of fish meal samples were collected from study areas. Chemical analyses of the samples were carried out in triplicate for moisture, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), nitrogen free extract (NFE), ether extract (EE) and total ash (TA) in the animal nutrition laboratory, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Metabolizable energy (ME) was calculated mathematically for all samples by using standard formula. Results indicated that, DM, CP, NFE, EE, TA and ME content significantly differed (P<0.01) from one sample to another. However, no significant (P>0.05) variation was found in the CF contents of the samples. DM content varied from 86.7 to 96.7%, CP content varied from 31.3 to 61.2%, CF content varied from 5.0 to 10.0%, EE content varied from 0.8 to 23.5%, NFE content varied from 0.6 to 14.6%, Ash content varied from 13.3 to 36.7% and ME content varied from 1788.4 to 3478.8 kcal/kg. It could therefore, be inferred that, the chemical composition of fish meal available in the local market are widely variable