Comparative Assessment of the Nutritional Fitness of Wild and Cultured African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

The nutritional qualities of wild and cultured Clarias gariepinus from Oba Reservoir, Ikose, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria, and the cultured fish from the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture and Mineral Resources, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria, were evaluated. The proximate composition, mineral element composition and essential amino acids profile of the sampled fish species were evaluated using standard laboratory procedures. The results of the proximate composition was observed to be high in cultured population compared to the Wild and there was a statistical significant difference in the amount of crude protein, fibres, carbohydrate, fat/lipid, ash and moisture contents across the two sampled populations (Wild; 17.94 ± 0.19, Cultured; 21.06 ± 0.51), t = -5.738, p-value =0.001. Mineral element content showed maximum amount of copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn) and Iron (Fe) in Wild population than in their cultured counterpart while the amount of Cadmium (Cd) and Nickel (Ni) observed in Wild population were undetected. It was also discovered that all amino acid analysed were found to be higher in the cultured group compared to the wild. There were varied levels of significant correlations among all the measured amino acids contents across the two sampled populations. This study showed that the proximate composition, elemental contents and amino acids profiles of both the cultured and wild fishes varies significantly and the results proofed that the cultured fish sample were more nutritious than the wild population, therefore, good monitoring system of Oba Reservoir should be encouraged with strict vigilance.