Abstract:

The nutritional components of the head, back, abdomen and tail of bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) weredetermined, and their nutritional value was synthetically evaluated. Results showed that there were only slight differences incrude protein content from head, back, abdomen and tail, which were 18.32%, 18.04%, 17.37% and 17.62%, respectively.Salt-soluble and water-soluble proteins were contained in head, back, abdomen and tail in relatively high amounts of 8.36%,8.43%, 8.42% and 8.37% as well as 4.88%, 4.78%, 4.75% and 4.73%, respectively. All the samples tested were rich incollagen, with the highest level of 9.54 mg/g observed in tail and relatively lower levels in back and abdomen. There wereno significant differences in amino acid composition of different parts, and the ratios of essential amino acids to total aminoacids in these parts were over 40%. The first limiting amino acids were methionine and cysteine, while the second limitingamino acid was valine. Minerals were abundant in the back of bighead carp, particularly for Ca2+, up to 1 195.36 mg/kg. Therelative content of unsaturated fatty acids in the abdomen was 69.77%, in which the polyunsaturated fatty acids accountedfor 28.80%.

Key words: bighead carp, composition analysis, nutritional evaluation