PROXIMATE COMPOSITION AND FATTY ACID PROFILE OF

SELECTED INDIGENOUS RIVERINE FRUITS COMMONLY

CONSUMED BY MALAYSIAN MAHSEER (Tor tambroides)

JOSEPHINE DORIN MISIENG1, 2; M. S. KAMARUDIN2*; C. R. SAAD2

1Inland Fisheries Division, Department of Agriculture Sarawak, Sarawak
2Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.

Nutrition & Feed Session

Thursday 28th May 2015
Halla Hall A

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 EMPURAU (Tor tambroides), A SARAWAK RIVER
TREASURE
Nguyen et al. (2006) described cyprinids in the
Figure 1. Taxonomy genus Tor as the True Mahseer because of the
median lobe.
Animalia The colouration of the scales varies according to
Kingdom
its geographical distribution and interactive effects
of the environment (Pollar et al., 2007) ~ a rich
Actinopterygii matrix of red, yellow and blue (Haryono, 2006).
Class

Cypriniformes
Order

Cyprinidae
Family

Tor
Genus

tambroides
Specie

Figure 2. The thick and fleshy lower median lobe.

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 Tor tambroides
Empurau/Kelah Merah/Malaysian Mahseer
Figure 3) T. tambroides from Murum,
Sarawak

Figure 4) T. tambroides from

Limbang, Sarawak

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Kemayau

Scientific Name: Dacryodes rostrata

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Kepayang

Scientific Name: Pangium edule

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Melinjau

Scientific Name: Gnetum gnemon

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Dabai

Scientific Name: Canarium odontophyllum

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Ensurai

Scientific Name: Dipterocarpus oblongifolius

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Kelampu

Scientific Name: Sandoricum koetjape

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Ara sungai

Scientific Name: Ficus racemosa

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Jambu ara

Scientific Name: Bellucia pentamera

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 Indigenous Riverine Fruits Commonly Eaten by Empurau

Local/Common Name: Engkabang

Scientific Name: Shorea macrophylla

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 Literature Reviews
No current statistics on the fishing and aquaculture production in
Malaysia.
Benchmark price in Sarawak ~ RM450/kg
RM131/kg as food fish and RM281/kg as ornamental fish of 30 cm
TL (Ng et al., 2008).
Whole frozen empurau costs RM500/kg and live fish RM1,500/kg,
as food fish (Tan, 2008).
Wide distribution ~ Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal to
Indo-China, south into Malaysia and Indonesia (Ambak et al., 2007).
Fast running rivers with cool and clear water with boulders, gravel,
pebble, coarse sands on the bed (Ambak et al., 2007; De Silva et
al., 2007).
Intermittent feeder (Dinesh and Nandeesha, 2007), omnivorous
feeder (Ambak et al., 2007) of insect, smalll aquatic animals, plant
matters, fruits fall into the river (Tan, 1980; Ingram et al., 2007; Siraj
et al., 2007).
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 Literature Reviews

Minimal improvement in the growth rate of farmed

empurau.
Limited reported data on its nutrition requirement, proper
feed and feeding practice according to its different life
stages (Ng et al., 2008).
Cultured empurau were fed with commercial fish feeds
(25% crude protein) (Ingram et al., 2007).
In the wild, empurau feed on plant parts (fruits, seeds,
leaves and tubers).
Gut content analyses of pond-reared Tor spp. ~ the diet
was partly composed of plant matter.

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 Table 1. Researches on dietary requirement of Tor spp. fingerling.

Dietary
nutrient Gross Species of
Protein Lipid Culture system
energy interest
Researcher
Bista et al.
30% & 40% T. putitora Pond
(2002)
Islam and
Tanaka 45-50% T. putitora Pond
(2004)
Ingram et al.
25-45% 5-10% T. tambroides Pond; cage
(2007)
Ng et al. Flow-through,
48% 10-15% 18-19 kJ g-1 T. tambroides
(2008) glass tanks
Misieng et Recirculating
al. (2011) 40% 21.0 kJ g-1 T. tambroides system,
aquarium

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 Successful hatchery
production at the
IFRPC, Tarat
Agriculture Station,
Sarawak

Under- Economical,
utilization of cultural and
indigenous conservation
riverine fruits importance

Statement
of problem
Increasing
Formulated
demand for
feed is not
empurau as
available
food fish

Slow-growing
empurau in the
wild and relatively
slow-growing in
captivity
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 Objectives

To determine the nutritional values of selected

indigenous riverine fruits as feed ingredients in
empurau diet.

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 Materials & Method

Figure 5. Experimental indigenous riverine fruits

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 Materials & Method
Table 2. Proximate analyses of indigenous riverine fruits

Proximate Composition (% dry Proximate Analyses (AOAC, 1985)

weight)
Crude protein (%) 2400 Kjeltec Analyzer Unit
Crude lipid (%) Foss Tecator Lipid Analyzer
Crude fiber (%) Fibertec System (Fibertec 2010 Hot
Extractor Foss Tecator)

Moisture (%) Infrared Moisture Determination Balance,

(Model: A&D, AD-4715, Japan)

Ash (%) Furnace Digital Balance

NFE (%) 100-[Moisture-Ash-Crude Protein-Crude
Lipid-Crude Fiber]
Gross energy (kCal g-1) Bomb calorimeter (Model: LECO, AC-350,
USA)

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 Materials & Method
The fatty acid composition of the fruits were extracted
according to the method described by Folch et al.
(1957). It is further separated and quantified by gas-
liquid chromatography.
One-way ANOVA and Duncans Multiple Range Test
were used to determine the significant differences
among the proximate composition means of the selected
fruits. They were considered to be significant at P<0.05.

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 Results & Discussion

Table 3. Summary of the mean of proximate composition (% as fed basis) of selected

indigenous riverine fruits

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 Kepayang had the significantly highest crude protein content
(12.93%) followed by ara and melinjau (at 11.91 and 10.82%,
respectively).
Kepayang also showed the significantly highest crude lipid (57.81%)
followed by engkabang (47.31%) and kemayau (33.54%).
The highest crude fiber content was shown by dabai (33.10%),
followed by ensurai (25.30) and ara (18.54%).
The NFE content was the highest in jambu kera (84.55%) followed
by kelampu (83.02%) and melinjau (66.26%).
Ara had the significantly highest ash content (11.96%) followed by
melinjau (6.31%) and dabai (6.11%).
A significantly high gross energy was determined in kepayang,
engkabang and dabai (7.92, 6.42 and 6.01 kCal/g).

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Table 4. Mean fatty acid content (% as fed basis) of selected indigenous riverine fruits.

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 Jambu kera had the highest content of omega-3 fatty acid (20:5 n-3,
at 16.67%).
Even though the crude lipid content was low, kelampu and ensurai
showed a significantly high content of omega-3 fatty acid (20:5 n-3,
at 6.71 and 6.40%).
Jambu kera also contained the significantly highest content of
omega-6 fatty acids (18:2 n-6 and 20:3 n-6, at 38.79%) compared to
the rest of the fruits even though its crude lipid content was at
3.62%.
Ara had a significantly high omega-6 fatty acid (18:2 n-6, 20:2 n-6
and 20:3 n-6, at 15.67%). This was followed by the omega-6 fatty
acid content of kelampu (18:2 n-6, at 15.60%).

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 Virk and Saxena (2003) ~ a better growth of the common carp
Cyprinus carpio and rohu, Labeo rohita ~ diets containing
Amaranthus seeds ~ good-quality proteins (16.0% of crude protein).
Palacios et al., 2006 ~ red pacu (Piaractus brachypomus) juveniles
~ better growth and feed efficiency ~ diets supplemented with the
maca tuber meal (Lepidum meyenii) (13.7% crude protein) .
Adamidou et al. (2010) ~ legumes seeds such as peas, chickpeas
and faba beans (19-51% crude fat) can be used as ingredients in
gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) diets without damaging effects
for replacing other carbohydrate sources and part of fish meal.
Hassan et al. (1997) ~ groundnut with a crude lipid as low as 0.18%
has a potential as a partial substitute for fish meal in C. carpio fry
diet.
Izquierdo et al. (2003) ~ the growth, feed conversion and protein
utilization of farmed fish can be improved with the increased dietary
lipid levels with high quality fats. Fish diets with high inclusion of
vegetable oils of soyabean oils, rapeseed oil and linseed oil (n-3/n-6
ratio ranging from 0.8-2.1) were able to maintain the beneficial
effects of farmed gilthead seabream and seabass as human food.
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 Conclusions
The selected indigenous riverine fruits have the
potential to be used as feed ingredients in the
omnivorousTor tambroides diet, i.e. as a
replacement or supplement for fish meal.

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 The OUTCOME

The commercial farming (pond and cage)

of empurau can be viable with proper
nutrition.
Patented feed formulation for empurau
Patented Empurau Sarawak
A sustainable income for rural community
through empurau and riverine fruits
farming.
The conservation of riverine ecosystem.
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge :

1. The Ministry of Science and Technology, Malaysia for funding
this study under the IRPA project 05-01-01-SF0209 .
2. Dr. Ehsan Ramezani Fard of Department of Aquaculture,
Faculty of Agriculture, UPM Selangor for assisting in the
fatty acids analyses of the fruit samples.
3. The Department of Agriculture Sarawak, Malaysia for the
travel grant to attend the WA 2015 Jeju.

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 Thank you

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