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Abstract
The mycological and some biochemical quality of smoked fish (Ethmalosa fimbriata) obtained from Oja-Oba market, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State of Nigeria was studied. Mycological examination of fish samples was carried out on freshly prepared Czapekdox agar and potato dextrose agar. Samples were collected bimonthly for six months. Results indicate the prevalence of fungal genera Aspergillus, Rhizopus and Penicillium in the samples tested. The genus Aspergillus consists of A. niger, A. flavus and A. ochraceous. The optimum growth temperature was found to be 28oC for all the fungal isolates except A. niger and Rhizopus sp which grew optimally at 35oC. All the isolates were found to degrade the proteins of the fish with A. ochraceous having the highest rate of degradation followed by A. niger and A. flavus. The results indicate the need to improve the post-harvest storage condition of these samples to ensure high quality product on preservation.
Keywords: Fish, fungi, protein, degradation,