Aim. Nutrients analysis of wild and farmed raised African catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell, 1822) were studied. The comparative work was carried out to find out if habitat could affect the nutrient composition of the fish. Study design: Five live C. gariepinus were obtained for three wild location and three fish farm each (n=30). One-way analysis of variance was use to examine the nutrients composition across the study locations. Methodology: Five individual fishes were randomly selected from the forty individuals in a population obtained from six locations. They were sacrificed and cut into three (tail, middle and trunk) chunks. These were oven dried at a constant temperature of 105ºC using oven model LCON53CF. The samples were later blend using electric blender and kept in airtight nylon for further analysis. Standard methods were employed in the analysis of body nutrients. Results: A significant difference was observed in proximate composition of C. gariepinus on dry matter bases. The moisture and lipids content were lower in wild C. gariepinus (5.16±0.07;15.27+0.08%) than farm raised (5.25±0.10%;18.54+0.08%). The average protein and ash contents in farm-raised C. gariepinus were significantly (p<0.05) lower (66.23+0.08%; 5.00+0.07%) than wild C. gariepinus (67.24+0.09%;9.06+0.07%). Organoleptic study revealed differences in taste between wild and farm raised C. gariepinus (p<0.05). The amino acids profile showed little disparity in quantity in wild and farm raised C. gariepinus. No significant difference (p>0.05) was noticed in the mean values of amino acids in wild (4.21) and farmed raised (4.16) C. gariepinus. The percentage of saturated fatty acids was higher (56.24%) in farmed raised C. gariepinus than the wild stocks (44.53%) unlike the unsaturated fatty acids that was higher in wild (79.46%) than the farmed raised (54.03%). Conclusion: The study revealed that wild fish possess some nutritional advantages over the culture C. gariepinus.

This study was carried out to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of Ginger (Zingiber officinale), African nutmeg (Monodora myristica) and Ashanti Black pepper (Piper guineense) essential oils. Dried plant materials were obtained from the Oba market in Edo State, Nigeria. All samples were ground into a fine powder and stored in an airtight plastic container at room temperature (28±2 o C) until when used. The essential oils were extracted using steam distillation and their physicochemical properties analyzed using standard procedures. The results showed that color varied from yellow for Z. officinale to colorless for M. myristica and P. guineense. The highest yield (3.55%), acid value (6.73 mg KOH/g), saponification value (185.13 mg KOH/g), free fatty acid value (3.37%) and iodine value (69.49 gI2/100 g) were recorded for M. myristica, the highest specific gravity value (0.88) was for P. guineense and M. myristica, the highest peroxide value (2.67) was for P. guineense while the highest refractive index value (1.49) was for both P. guineense and Z. officinale. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in all physicochemical parameters except for the refractive index and specific gravity of the essential oils. The result indicates that the essential oils of the selected plants can be utilized as edible oils and suitable for nutritional purposes. The oils are stable and would not easily undergo rancidity, thus they can be used as a good component of food additives.