@article{jfnr2016461,
author={{Gunya, Busisiwe and Masika, Patrick Julius and Hugo, Arno and Muchenje, Voster},
title={Nutrient Composition and Fatty Acid Profiles of Oven-dried and Freeze-dried Earthworm <i>Eisenia</i><i> </i><i>foetida</i>},
journal={Journal of Food and Nutrition Research},
volume={4},
number={6},
pages={343--348},
year={2016},
url={http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfnr/4/6/1},
issn={2333-1240},
abstract={<i><b>Background:</b></i><i><b> </b></i><i>Eisenia</i><i> </i><i>foetida</i> are used as a feed source. However, information on nutrient composition and fatty acid profiles of earthworm <i>E.foetida</i> is limited, making it complex to include them into feed formulation. <i><b>Objective</b></i><i>:</i><i> </i>The aim of this study was to determine the nutritive value of freeze-dried and oven-dried earthworms, <i>E.</i><i> </i><i>foetida.</i><i> </i><i><b>Design</b></i><i>:</i><i> </i>The earthworms were oven- or freeze-dried, then analysed for nutrient composition (protein, fat, moisture and minerals) according to AOAC method and fatty acids using gas chromatography. <i><b>Results</b></i>: Protein content was higher in freeze-dried earthworms while fat content of earthworms was not influenced by drying methods used. Most minerals (macro and micro) of <i>E. foetida</i> were significantly different except for calcium (P &lt; 0.05) with freeze-dried <i>E. foetida</i><i> </i>having the predominant minerals than oven-dried earthworms. Most of essential fatty acids were significantly higher in oven-dried <i>E. foetida</i><i> </i>than in freeze-dried earthworms<i>.</i> No significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed on Margaric, Vaccenic, Arachidic, Tricosanoic, omega-3, SFA, MUFA, n-3, PUFA: SFA and PUFA/MUFA between oven-dried and freeze-dried samples. <i><b>Conclusions</b></i>: The study revealed that freeze-dried <i>E. foetida</i> can serve as a better source of nutrients than oven-dried earthworms whereas fatty acids were better in oven-dried <i>E.</i><i> </i><i>foetida</i> than freeze-dried <i>E.</i><i> </i><i>foetida</i>. These results indicated that the effects of drying methods on <i>E. foetida</i><i> </i>nutritive value were different.},
doi={10.12691/jfnr-4-6-1}
publisher={Science and Education Publishing}
}