The Proximate Composition, Amino Acid Profile, Fatty Acid Content, and Mineral Content of Scale Flour from Three Fish Species As Potential Feeds for Fish Fry

Background: Fish scale waste is highly valued both as a functional food ingredient and a potential feed source for farmed fish. This study aimed to analyse the chemical composition, fatty acid profile, and mineral content in fish scale flour of , , and as potential feed for fish fry.

Methods: Fish scales were cleaned with 10% w/v NaCl solution at a ratio of 1:10 (w/w) for 24 hours at 4 °C. Agitation was used every eight hours to remove excess protein. Fish scales were evenly arranged in a cooker and cooked at 121 °C for 10 minutes with 15 pressure. After cooking, 100 grams of wet fish scales was dried at 50 °C for four hours. Dried fish scales were transformed into flour for proximate composition analysed via standard AOAC method, amino acid and fatty acid assessment employing HPLC and GC-MS, while mineral content was determined using AAS.

Results: The examined fish scale flour from three species displayed significant variations in chemical components, amino acids, and minerals (p<0.01). Crude protein content spanned 49.52% to 72.94%, and fat content ranged from 0.11% to 0.23%. Magnesium levels varied between 767.82 mg/kg and 816.50 mg/kg, calcium content ranged from 3.54 mg/kg to 12.16 mg/kg, iron content was within 40.46 mg/kg to 44.10 mg/kg, and zinc content ranged from 45.80 mg/kg to 139.19 mg/kg. Predominantly, glycine emerged as the main free amino acid (FAA), varying from 13.70% to 16.08%, while histidine had the lowest content, at 0.39% to 0.71%. Conversely, fatty acid content was low in all species examined ranging from 6.73% to 9.48%.

Conclusions: Flour from three farmed fish types has potential for fish fry feed due to its chemical composition, amino acid, and mineral content. Further validation is needed for amino acid comparison to fish meal.