Effectiveness of Surfaces used for Sun-drying Rastrineobola argentea along Lake Victoria shoreline, Uganda

Abstract

Mukene (Rastrineobola argentea) makes up 60% of the total fish catch in Lake Victoria and it is preserved by open sun-drying on various surfaces. This study evaluated drying time and the quality of mukene dried on bare-ground, concrete, net-on-grass, shade-net rack and wire-mesh rack. The drying time on all surfaces ranged from 7 hours on shade-net to 8hours on wire-mesh except on the net-on-grass which took 9.4 hours. The total bacterial load ranged from 1.0 x 10⁵cfu g^-1to 2.3 x 10⁸cfu g^-1 while total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) varied from 17.2 mgN100g^-1 to 23.8 mgN100g^-1 in fish dried on shade-net and bare-ground respectively. It was concluded that the type of surface significantly affected drying time, contamination by bacteria, animal and plant detritus and pebbles, as well as concentration of total volatile base nitrates (TVB-N) in mukene during drying.

Keywords: Contamination, Faecal coliforms, Peroxide value, Spoilage, Sun-drying, Total bacterial load, Total volatile base nitrates,