Antioxidant Activities of Different Spices on the Lipid Oxidation of Cooked and Uncooked Fillet of Two Fish Species Belonging to the Genus Puntius

Twenty spices were employed to preserve the cooked and uncooked fillet of puntius sarana (hamilton) and puntius ticto (hamilton). ic50 values of 2,2’-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (dpph) based free radical scavenging activity ranged from 0.1123 μg ml^-1 in turmeric to 13.035 μg ml^-1 in roman coriander. phenol content ranged from 0.365 μg g^-1 in onion to 5.67 μg g^-1 in clove. the raw and cooked fillets of p. sarana, and the cooked fillet of p. ticto, treated with garlic recorded the highest rates of thiobarbituric acid (tba) reactivity (p< 0.05). for raw p. ticto, both the control and garlic treated fillet recorded higher rates of tba reactivity (p< 0.05). zfillet of both fish species recorded higher tba reactivity under raw condition, compared to cooked fillet. this condition was similar for the spice treated fillet. the exceptions were garlic, green and black cardamom, roman coriander and onion for p. sarana and garlic, cumin, field mustard, black pepper and poppy seed for p. ticto, where tba reactivity was higher in cooked condition. it is recommended that spices with active phenolic antioxidants be used to inhibit the lipid oxidation in p. sarana and p. ticto. however, application of garlic extract for fillet preservation should be avoided until further documentation.