• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.299-312
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• 2008

The fat of Tra and Basa catfish (Mekong Delta, Viet Nam) was evaluated for the first time as the potential feedstock for biodiesel production, due to its abundance, availability and cheap cost. The unsaturated fatty acid contents of Tra and Basa fat were 57.97% and 64.17%, respectively. Biodiesel was prepared from Tra and Basa fat by methanolysis reaction using alkali catalysts like sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. Effects of various process parameters on biodiesel production, such as molar ratio of methanol to fat, catalyst concentration, temperature and time were investigated. As those results, the transesterification can be performed under moderate conditions, and the biodiesel yields were shown more than 90%. KOH catalyst was the best catalyst for biodiesel production from both Basa and Tra fat. As the feedstock aspect, Basa fat was indicated more efficiency than that of Tra fat. The maximum yield could be achieved by the transesterification from Basa fat with 5:1 molar ratio of methanol to fat, 0.8% KOH catalyst, $50^{\circ}C$, and 50 min. For Tra fat, the optimal condition were at 6:1 molar ratio of methanol to fat, 0.8% KOH catalyst, $50^{\circ}C$, and 45 min. Nowadays, due to cheaper cost and abundance, Tra fat is a promised resource for cheap biodiesel production in Viet Nam.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.671-676
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• 2005

A total of 50 individual catfish, the Tra (Pangasius hypophthalmus) cultivated in either floating cages (Tra-c) or in ponds (Tra-p) and the Basa (Pangasius bocourti) raised in three floating cages, were collected in two of the Mekong Delta provinces. The caudal fin of each individual fish was used for protein electrophoresis employing the SDS-PAGE method. The one fillet sides were used as a representative sample to determine the dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and amino acids (AAs). The catfish oil was extracted from the belly fats, and the fatty acid (FA) composition was analyzed. There were 21 bands of the Tra and the Basa. Protein bands of the two varieties were 28.6-33.3% polymorphic, while polymorphic individuals of the Tra ranged from 80.0 to 100.0%, and the Basa was 90.0% polymorphic. The phenotypic diversity (Ho) of the Tra ranged from 1.71 to 1.80, while the Basa ranged as high as 2.14%. Diversity values (H$_{EP}$) for genetic diversity markers were equal in the Tra and the Basa. The sum of the effective number of alleles (SENA) of both varieties ranged from 3.40 to 3.83 for the Basa and the Tra, respectively. The lower values of Ho and SENA, as compared with those of the fresh water prawn (Macrobrachium equidens) in the area, would suggest that the species with the low values will become extinct due to inbreeding; the gene pools of each observed population were below a suitable threshold. Many of the differences in the nutritional values of the Tra-c, the Tra-p and the Basa were measured; their nutrient values were comparable to fishmeal or fish oil. Most of the DM, CP, and EE were higher in the Tra, especially in the Tra-c. The essential AA content, especially that of lysine, was highest in the Tra-c, next highest in the Tra-p, and lowest in the Basa. Therefore, the amino acid patterns were closer to the ideal patterns in the same sequences. In contrast, the essential FAs were concentrated in the Basa fish oil. It was found that suitable selection of parents for seed production is required to avoid inbreeding. Catfish may be valuable sources of nutrition for both humans and animals, and the differences in their nutritional values by variety and/or management must be taken into account.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.418-428
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• 2008

Transesterification of fat of Tra catfish with methanol in the presence of the KOH catalyst yields fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerol (GL). The effects of the reaction temperature and reaction time on rate constants and kinetic order were investigated. Three regions were observed. In the initial stage, the immiscibility of the Tra fat and methanol limited the reaction rate, hence this region was controlled by the mass transfer. Subsequent to this region, produced FAME like a co-solvent made the reaction mixture homogeneous, therefore the conversion rate increased rapidly so it was controlled by the kinetic parameters of the reaction until the equilibrium was approached in the final slow region. A second-order kinetic mechanism was proposed involving second regions for the forward reaction. The rate determining step for the overall KOH catalyzed-methanolysis of Tra fat was the conversion of triglycerides (TG) to diglycerides (DG). This rate constant was increased from 0.003 to $0.019min^{-1}$ when the reaction temperature was increased from 35 to $60^{\circ}C$. Its calculated activation energy was 14.379 ($kcal.mol^{-1}$).

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2009

Nowadays, Tra catfish fat is given attention as an appropriate material for biodiesel production in Vietnam. The aim of this work is to investigate the optimal conditions of refining biodiesel and recovering glycerin by the transesterification from Tra catfish fat using KOH catalyst. As our results, the yield of transesterification was achieved to 94.17% at $50^{\circ}C$ for 45 min with 6:1 molar ratio of methanol to fat in the presence of 0.8% KOH catalyst, and wherein the biodiesel was refined by washing with distilled water at $70^{\circ}C$ and dried in a microwave oven. The yield of raw glycerin recoveries from the transesterification process was 78.58%. The purity of raw glycerin was 84.14% by the conditions of neutralization state with $H_{3}PO_{4}$ solution (pH = 5), $70^{\circ}C$, and 60 min. Activated carbon (3.0 wt.%) was used for the bleaching process at $80^{\circ}C$ for 20 min. The biodiesel was obtained in accordance with for ASTM D 6751 (biodiesel standard). The ash and water of raw glycerins were 7.32 and 8.01%, respectively, and implied that the raw glycerin is very promising candidate to be used as a raw material for textile and cosmetic industries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.924-930
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• 2010

Ileal and total tract digestibility and nitrogen (N) balance of diets with four different protein sources were determined in growing pigs. The diets were based on rice bran, broken rice and maize meal and contained Tra catfish by-product (CBP), processed using three different methods, and marine fish meal (FM). The CBP diets consisted of the by-product in meal form, ensiled with molasses, and CBP waste water (WWBD). The four diets were fed to four growing pigs fitted with post-valve T-cecum (PVTC) cannulas in a $4{\times}4$ Latin Square design. All experimental diets included $Cr_2O_3$ at 5 g/kg feed as an indigestible marker. The ileal apparent digestibility of organic matter and ether extract was higher on diet WWBD than on the other three diets (p<0.05), and the total tract apparent digestibility was higher on diet WWBD than on the FM diet (p<0.05). The ileal and total tract apparent digestibility of crude protein and amino acids was not significantly different among diets (p>0.05). No significant effects of diet were found on N-retention and N utilization. In conclusion, the catfish by-product meal, ensiled catfish by-product and processing waste water diets and the fish meal diet had similar ileal and total tract apparent digestibility, and similar N utilization in growing pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.762-771
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• 2010

Two experiments were conducted to determine i) the fermentation characteristics of catfish by-product (C) ensiled with rice bran (RB) or sugarcane molasses (M) in different ratios, and ii) the digestibility of the silages in growing pigs. In the ensiling experiment, there were three ratios of C, ensiled with RB or M, of 8:2, 7:3 and 6:4 (wet basis for C and air-dry basis for RB and M). The six treatments were CRB8:2, CRB7:3, CRB6:4, CM8:2, CM7:3 and CM6:4, with 3 replications per treatment and seven sampling times. The pH of CRB7:3 and CRB6:4 decreased (p<0.05) from the first week and stayed stable until 8 weeks of ensiling, but the pH did not decrease in CRB8:2. The pH of CM8:2, CM7:3 and CM6:4 decreased rapidly from the first week until week 8. Dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) contents were slightly lower when catfish by-product was ensiled with RB than with M. Ammonia content in all treatments increased (p<0.05) during ensiling. Lactic acid content in silages with molasses increased from the first week, with the highest value at week 4. However, the lactic acid content in CRB8:2 did not increase with time and had the lowest value of all treatments. Acetic acid proportions of total volatile fatty acids were low at day 0, with the highest value at day 7, decreasing slowly until 8 weeks. The butyric acid proportion was highest at day 0 and decreased up to week 8. The proportion of propionic acid increased during ensiling. The digestibility experiment had a 4${\times}$4 Latin-square design and included 4 castrated crossbreed (Yorkshire${\times}$Landrace) male pigs fed four diets. The basal diet (BD) included rice bran, broken rice and maize meal, and the other three diets included fish meal (FMD) or catfish by-product ensiled with rice bran (CRBD) or sugarcane molasses (CMD). The silages chosen were those which gave the best results in the ensiling experiment for each additive. The coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of DM and organic matter (OM) was not significantly different among treatments. The CTTAD of CP was not different among the silage diets, but was lower in BD (p<0.01). The CTTAD of ether extract (EE) was higher in the catfish by-product silage diets than in FMD and BD. There was no significant difference in the digestibility of DM, OM, CP and EE between the fish meal and the by-product silages. In conclusion, catfish by-product can be successfully preserved by ensiling. Moreover, the total tract apparent digestibility of OM, CP and EE in ensiled catfish by-product was comparable with that of fish meal.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.45 no.1 s.141
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• pp.45-54
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• 2007

Although Vietnam has a high risk of fish borne zoonotic trematode(FZT) infections for humans, little information exists on the epidemiology of these infections in the country's fish. Because of the importance of cultured cat-fish and snakehead production in An Giang province, a major production area in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, a survey for FZTs was carried out in randomly selected fish farms between June 2005 and March 2006. For comparison, wild fish from the same area were also surveyed. A total of 852 cultured fish from 4 districts were collected and examined by pepsin digestion to determine their FZT infection status. In Tra catfish, the prevalence of all types of metacercariae was 2.6%, of which the prevalence of Haplorchis pumilio was 0.7%. The overall prevalence of metacercariae in wild fish was 30.6%, of which 10.3% harbored zoonotic species: H. pumilio(2.8%) and Procerovum sp.(5.6%). The prevalence of Opisthorchis metacercariae, which were diagnosed as O. viverrini, was 1.9%. No metacercariae were found in cultured snake head fish, although wild-caught snakehead fish had a FZT prevalence of 10.3%: 5.1% were O. viverrini; 2.6% H. pumilio; and 2.6% were Procerovum sp. These are the first reports of H. pumilio, Procerovum sp., and O. viverrini metacercariae in Vietnamese fish. These results indicate that consumption of improperly prepared fish represents a significant risk of acquiring FZTs in this south Vietnam region.