Nutritional comparison of experimentally and commercially sun-dried lean fish and small prawns of Bangladesh

Nutritional compositions (protein, ash, moisture, fat, energy and carbohydrate) of experimentally and commercially sun-dried fish items of Bangladesh, namely Punti (Puntius sophore), Mola (Amblypharyngodon mola), Chanda (Chanda nama), Phasa (Setipinna phasa) and small Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) were explored in this study.All the experiments were performed following standard AOAC methods.The moisture contents of both experimentally and commercially dried fish varieties were within the acceptable limit, ranging from 10.30±0.09% to 16.83±0.08%and 10.25±0.14% to 17.50±0.15%,respectively.Notable protein contents were found in the dried fish items ranging from 59.13±0.22% to 72.02±0.06% in experimentally dried and 56.74±0.09% to 65.17±0.04% in commercially dried samples.The ash contents varied from 10.05±0.03% to 17.68±0.04% in experimentally dried fish items, which ranged from 12.40±0.02%to 15.70±0.43% in commercially dried items.Overall, experimentally dried fish products were found to be nutritionally superior compared to commercially dried products.Therefore, the study recommends experimental method over commercial method to produce dry fish products, which is more hygienic and ensures maximum retention of nutritional qualities of the fresh fishes.