Chemical composition and amino acid profile of Sardinella longiceps collected from Western coastal areas of Kerala, India

The proximate, mineral composition, moisture content, fatty acid and amino acid profile of Sardinella longiceps has been investigated. Four different forms of same sample were taken for various analyses. They were sardine fresh meat (SFM), sardine cooked meat (SCM), sardine whole extract (SWE) and sardine cooked dried meat (SCDM). Amino acid profiles of the samples showed that cystine and arginine was lost due to oxidation and absorption in the SCM and SCDM samples, during the cooking process. The amino acid tryptophan was analyzed separately due to its tendancy to degrade in acidic medium. It was found that tryptophan was present in high level in the SCDM samples. The moisture content of SFM and SCM was 64.8% and 55.7% respectively. SWE and SCDM had negligible moisture content. The total crude protein content in SFM was little less than SCM. And protein content was 23.63% in SFM and incase of SDM, it was 29.31%. The crude protein content in SWE was 2.22% and in SCDM, it was negligible. The crude fat content in SFM was 41.25% and in SCM, it was 46.25%. No trace of crude fat content was seen in SWE, but SCDM showed an appreciable amount of 37.15% crude fat content. Ash content estimation of five different samples including of bone were done. The ash  content was maximum (27.48%) in bone. The ash content in SFM, SCM and SCDM was 3.94%, 2.49% and 1.77% respectively. SWE showed negligible ash content. Potassium content was found to be maximum in all the samples except bone. Mineral study showed potassium content was maximum in all the samples except in bone, where percentage of calcium was analyzed as maximum.