Protein Hydrolysate from Visceral Waste Proteins of Bolti Fish (Tilapia nilotica): Chemical and Nutritional Variations as Affected by Processing pHs and Time of Hydrolysis

Abstract

The main objective of the current work was to evaluate the proximate chemical composition and nutritional quality of amino acids of protein hydrolysates from viscera of Tilapia nilotica fish. The results of amino acid composition showed that all hydrolysates contained sufficient and/or excessive amounts of both essential and nonessential amino acids, with appreciable values of essential amino acid/nonessential amino acid ratio (0.77 to 1.59) and essential amino acid/total amino acid ratio (43.35 to 61.35). All protein hydrolysates had a high content of the flavor enhancer amino acids. The lowest values of essential amino acids were found for phenylalanine and methionine with chemical scores ranging from 0.04 to 0.77 and 0.09 to 1.06, respectively, except for 18 h hydrolysates. The protein efficiency ratio had values greatly exceeding 2.0, which is considered a high quality. On the other hand, the levels of sugar and ash contents ranged from 2.69 to 3.32 g L−1 and 0.48 to 2.1%, respectively, with 9.2 to 14% dry matter. Mineral composition showed that sufficient amounts of calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and iron were present. The results suggest that the studied hydrolysates are appropriate for use in balanced human or animal diets.