Effect of delayed icing on quality changes and shelf-life of some freshwater fish from Bangladesh

The quality and shelf-life of three freshwater fish species of Bangladesh, catla (Catla catla), magur (Clarias batrachus) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) stored at room temperature and ice were evaluated. Live fishes were killed by cranial spiking and stored at room temperature (27-30 °C), ice stored immediately after death, 5 hr after death and 10 hr after death. The shelf-life and quality of the fishes were evaluated by organoleptic method, rigor-mortis studies and bacteriological assessment. Fishes kept at room temperature became organoleptically unacceptable within 16-20 hr duration. Ice stored fishes showed considerable differences in their shelf-life when icing was delayed for different duration. Shelf-life of catla ice stored immediately after death was 20 days but shelf-life reduced to 12 days when icing delayed for 10 hr after death. Similar trend was observed for two other fish species magur and tilapia. Rigor-index of the fishes stored under different conditions also considerably varied among the three fish species, particularly effect of delayed icing was very much evident. Bacteriological study showed patterns of Aerobic Plate Count (APC) at the end of shelflife study when fishes became organoleptically unacceptable were more or less similar for all the three fish species stored under different conditions. No definite pattern was observed in the generic distribution of bacteria in different fish species under different storage conditions. Micrococcus, Coryneforms, Pseudomonas and Achromobacter were the dominant groups of bacteria isolated from the fishes spoiled at room temperature and ice stored condition

Report of the pilot Essential EAFM course, Samut Prakan, Thailand, 20-25 January, 2014

This course, co-hosted by South East Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC), was a refined version of the pilot course held in Malaysia in June 2013. Participants were exposed to concepts and information about Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) using a structured, participatory method of delivery. The learning strategy involved specifically designed exercises, using real examples, to consolidate learning. Daily monitoring and reviews were conducted together with pre-and post-course assessment

Regulatory hypothesis and bank dividend payouts: Empirical evidence from Italian banking sector

This study examines the regulatory hypothesis for bank dividend payouts using a panel dataset of 229 Italian banks over the period 2005–2012. Regulatory hypothesis suggests that undercapitalized banks face more regulatory pressure for increasing capital levels by paying lower amount of dividends. Empirical results support the regulatory hypothesis by finding that the Italian banks having lower equity to total assets ratios or lower regulatory capital ratios retain more profits and pay lower amount of dividends. Results also suggest that dividend payer banks try to maintain dividends at previous level by not skipping or reducing dividends. Results further support that Fama and French (2001)'s three characteristics of dividend payers are also applicable to banks. That is, big-in-size, more profitable and low growth Italian banks pay higher amount of dividends. Findings of this study have important implications for recent regulatory proposals that suggest a direct regulation of dividends. A direct regulation of dividends, on one hand, and regulatory pressure on dividend payout decisions through capital requirements, on the other hand, may have unintended consequences for dividends as signaling and agency cost reducing tools

Quality assessment of rotating and solar tunnel dried marine fish product

Studies were conducted to evaluate the quality aspects of marine dried fish i.e. silver jew fish (Johnius argentatus), Bombay duck (Harpodon nehereus) and ribbon fish (Trichiums haumela) products produced in rotating and solar tunnel dryers. On the basis of organoleptic characteristics such as colour, odour, texture, broken pieces, insect infestation and overall quality, four member panels of experts evaluated the quality of the dried products obtained from both rotating and solar tunnel dryers and all the products were found in acceptable quality. Reconstitutions properties of samples were in the range of 51.05 to 98.75% for the dried fish produced in rotating dryer, while 24.64 to 76.76% for dried fish produced in solar tunnel dryer. The highest reconstitution rate was found in dried silver jew fish and lowest in ribbon fish produced in rotating dryer. On the other hand, the highest reconstitution was observed in dried silver jew fish and lowest in dried Bombay duck produced in solar tunnel dryer. Proximate composition such as moisture, crude protein, lipid and ash content of the dried fish muscles produced in rotating dryer ranged from 16.36% to 19.1%, 62.35% to 67.37%, 6.37% to 10.75% and 7.00% to 8.05%, respectively and in solar tunnel dried fish products, they were in the range of 14.05% to 19.71%,57.64% to 69. 21%,6.92% to 15.40%and 7.69% to 8.80 %, respectively. The TVBN values of dried fish products obtained from rotating dryer were in the range of 15.02 to 19.05 mg/100g, while in solar tunnel dried fish products, the values were in the range of 15.46 to 19.21 mg/100g. The results of the studies indicated that dried fish produced from both rotating and solar tunnel drier were acceptable quality in terms of organoleptic and food quality aspects

Shelf-life of rotary and solar tunnel dried SIS products under different packaging and storage conditions

A study was conducted on the shelf-life of rotary and solar tunnel dried SIS products under different packaging and storage conditions. Organoleptically dried products were found in good condition after a storage period of 60 days in ambient and chilled conditions. The moisture content, TVB-N value and bacterial load slightly increased during 60 days of storage in ambient and chilled conditions. The changes in moisture content and bacterial load were faster in ambient temperature than in chilled storage condition whereas changes in TVB-N value was higher in chilled condition than in ambient temperature. The initial moisture content was in the range of 13.71% to 22.84%. After 60 days of storage in ambient and chilled condition the moisture content of dried products was in the range of 15.09% to 25.11% and 14.49% to 25.01%, respectively. The initial TVB-N value was in the range of 10.64 to 17.52 mg/100g and after 60 days of storage in ambient and chilled condition, TVB-N value was in the range of 29.00 to 34.82 mg/100g and 31.41 to 39.11 mg/100g, respectively. The initial bacterial load was in the range of 1.91x10 super(8) to 2.84x10 super(8) and after 60 days of storage in ambient and chilled condition, the bacterial load was in the range of 6.2x10 super(8) to 1.8x10 super(9) and 5.75x10 super(7) to 5.05x10 super(8) CFU/g, respectively. The results of the present study indicated that it is necessary to store high quality dried products in sealed packed in chilled condition to ensure good quality up to a certain period of time

Quality assessment of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried small indigenous fish species products

Studies on the quality assessments of three traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried SIS products were conducted. Organoleptic quality of traditional dried SIS products available in the markets was poor compared to those produced in rotary and solar tunnel dryer. Reconstitution of samples were in the range of 54.26% to 75.24%, 69.37% to 83.73% and 55.08% to 80.24% when soaked at 80°C for traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products, respectively. The percentage of reconstitution increased with the increase of soaking time and the uptake of water was maximum after 60 min of soaking. The moisture contents of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products were in the range of 26.02% to 27.33%, 16.23% to 22.84% and 13.71% to 19.30%, respectively. The protein contents were in the range of 60.78% to 72.59%, 62.17% to 76.27% and 61.11% to 76.00%, respectively; lipid contents were in the range of 12.26% to 22.60%, 14.00% to 24.71% and 13.92% to 22.39%, respectively and ash contents in the range of 15.11% to 16.59%, 8.32% to 13.51% and 8.71% to 16.45%, respectively on dry matter basis. The TVB-N content of rotary and solar tunnel dried products was low compared to traditional one ranging from 10.64 to 17.52 mg/100g and 14.34 to 15.68 mg/100g, respectively whereas the TVB-N content of traditional samples was in the range of 15.46 to 20.36 mg/100g. The bacterial load of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products were in the range of 1.43x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.89 x10 super(80 CFU/g, 1.91x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.84x10 super(8) CFU/g and 1.95x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.59x10 super(8) CFU/g, respectively. The results of the study indicated that dried fish products from rotary dryer and solar tunnel dryer were found to be of better quality in nutritional and food quality aspects than those of traditional dried products

Studies on the post-mortem changes in shrimp and prawn during ice storage. Pt. 1. Organoleptic and physical changes

The organoleptic characteristics such as appearance, textural condition, colour and odour indicated that the M. rosenbergii stored in ice for 5-6 days was acceptable for processing in the industry while P. monodon under similar ice storage condition was acceptable for 8-9 days. In both species, samples stored in headless condition in ice had longer shelf life than that of stored in head-on condition. Physical changes were evaluated by determining expressible moisture and breaking strength of sample of muscles. The expressible moisture increased continuously in both samples with the lapse of storage period. The expressible moisture increased up to around 44% in 4-5 days of ice stored M. rosenbergii muscle while it was around 40% in 8-9 days ice stored P. monodon. At the end of 9 days of ice storage, the expressible moisture content in M. rosenbergii increased up to 60%, while it was up to 47% in P. monodon after 11 days of ice storage. The breaking strength declined from 0. 78 kg/cm² to 0.53 kg/cm² in tiger shrimp after 8 days of ice storage, while in case of immediately killed prawn, the breaking strength of muscle was 0.8 kg/cm² which declined to 0.43 to 0.35 kg/cm²

Studies on the post-mortem changes in shrimp and prawn during ice storage. Pt. 2. Biochemical aspects of quality changes

Studies were conducted on biochemical changes in P. monodon and M. rosenbergii during ice storage. At the end of 10 days of ice storage, moisture and protein content of freshwater prawn slightly decreased from 78.34 to '77.35% and 18.46 to 17.10, respectively, while lipid and ash content slightly increased. The moisture, crude protein, lipid and ash content of one day ice stored tiger shrimp samples were 78.07, 18.06, 1.3 and 1.29% respectively. The protein composition of freshwater prawn immediately after killed were 36.51% sarcoplasmic, 44.63% myofibrillar, 8.12% stroma and 6.44% alkali soluble protein. At the end of 10 days of ice storage, sarcoplasmic and stroma protein slightly decreased while there was little or no changes observed in myofibrillar and alkali soluble protein. In case of one day ice stored tiger shrimp, the composition of protein were 35.32% sarcoplasmic, 46.29% myofibrillar, 7.86% stroma protein and 7.08% alkali soluble protein. At the end of 10 days in ice, sarcoplasmic protein decreased from 35.32% to 32.16% while there was slight change in other protein fractions. The TVB-N value of 1 day ice stored shrimp was 10.5 mg/100g of sample. It increased gradually with the lapse of storage period and at the end of 10 days storage in ice, the value increased up to 60 mg/100g sample. The tiger head on shrimp in ice storage were found organoleptic acceptable condition for 8 days and at that time the TVB-N values were 32.2 mg/100g which is slightly above the recommended limit for TVB-N for export

Preliminary study on the coconut crab (Birgus latro) rearing in captive pond

Preliminary study on the coconut crab (Birgus latro) rearing was employed in captive pond at Citarate village, Lebak Regency (Banten) from May to December 2008.  The rearing activity was done in captive pond sized 5x5x1.3 m3 divided into 22 smaller ponds sized 1x1x1.3 m3 with a hiding hole (constructed by pile stones), supported by two small ponds sized 30x40x40 cm3 for sea and fresh water stocks, respectively.  The coconut crab (N=22 individuals at cement pond I and N=18 individuals at cement pond II) were reared in each small ponds (density: 1 individual/pond), feed by a piece of coconut (20-50 gram per individual in each cement pond).  The coconut and the water (sea and fresh water) were replaced for 2-3 times per week. Result of the study showed that survival rate was around 82% (ponds I) and 83% (ponds II), and mortality was around 18% (ponds I) and 18% (ponds II). The coconut crab growth at captive ponds I and II were around 17.5 and 52 gram per month, respectively. Key words:  Preliminary study, rearing, coconut crab (Birgus latro)   ABSTRAK Uji coba pemeliharaan kepiting kelapa (Birgus latro) dilakukan di kolam penangkaran di Desa Citarate, Kabupaten Lebak (Banten) pada Bulan Mei sampai Desember 2008.  Kegiatan pemeliharaan dilakukan pada bak semen berukuran 5x5x1.3 m2 yang terbagi menjadi 22 bak semen lebih kecil yang berukuran 1x1x1.3 m3 dilengkapi dengan tempat persembunyian (berupa tumpukan batu), serta bak kecil sebagai tempat penampungan air laut dan tawar masing-masing berukuran 30x40x40 cm3. Kepiting kelapa (N=22 ekor pada kolam I dan N=18 pada kolam II) dimasukkan ke dalam setiap kolam (kepadatan 1 individu/kolam), dan diberikan pakan utama berupa potongan kelapa ukuran sekitar 20-50 gram per individu per kolam.  Penggantian kelapa dan air (tawar dan laut) dilakukan 2-3 kali per minggu. Hasil uji coba pemeliharaan kepiting kelapa menunjukkan bahwa tingkat sintasan (survival rate) di kolam peliharaan berkisar 82 (Kolam I) dan 83% (Kolam II), sedangkan tingkat kematian (mortalitas) sebesar 18 (Kolam I) dan 17% (Kolam II).  Pertumbuhan kepiting kelapa di kolam penangkaran I dan masing-masing adalah sekitar 17,5 dan 52 gram per bulan. Kata kunci:  Uji coba, pemeliharaan, kepiting kelapa (Birgus latro)

Production of MSSM Higgs Bosons in Photon-Photon Collisions

The heavy neutral Higgs bosons H, A in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model can be produced as single resonances at high-energy gamma gamma colliders. We have studied the prospects of the search for these particles in b\bar b and neutralino-pair final states. The Higgs bosons can be found with masses up to 70-80% of the initial e^\pm e^- collider energy for medium values of tan(beta), i.e. in areas of the supersymmetric parameter space not accessible at other colliders.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 3 figure