Effects of different concentrations (10% and 20%) of citrus Limon and 0.05% sodium benzoate as preservatives in the extension of shelf life of fresh fish.

Abstract

Effects of different concentration of citrus Limon 10% and 20% and 0.05% sodium benzoate. This research was done in Soroti district. It involved buying fish from soroti market and. transported to Arapai campus laboratory 40 fish samples were used in the research the gills and the stomach contents of the fish were used as the samples as they were measured and crushed then serial dilution was done. The solution was put in the petri dishes which had the culture media then culturing was done. After culturing total plate count was done to know the bacterial load of the fish samples; Staining of the bacteria was done to identify the different species of bacteria in the fish samples. Preparation of nutrient broth was done. and this was used during' the process of clearance and sensitivity where the three extracts 10% and 200% sodium benzoate were used to test their effectiveness in clearing bacteria. In this research, there was a significant difference between the microbial load of the gills and the stomach content as the stomach content had more microorganisms than the gills. There was a significant difference in the species load of gills and the gastrointestinal tract as the gills had more of streptococci than staphylococci while the gastrointestinal tract had more of staphylococci than clostridium. There was no significant difference between the three preservatives 10% citrus Limon, 20% citrus Limon and 0.05% sodium benzoateas all the solutions had almost the same area of clearance, Therefore. I recommend the fish traders to remove the gills and the stomach content of the fish as they contain a high number of bacteria which cause fish spoilage. The traders and consumers of fish should use 10% concentration of lemon as a preservative as it is readily available and has the same effect on microorganisms like 0.05% sodium benzoate which is scarce to find other researchers to get information on the effects of excessive use of citrus Limon as a preservative for fresh fish.