Extraction and Characterization of Chitosan Obtained from Scales of Clarias gariepinus (Catfish)

Fish waste is considered to be one of the major bio-pollutants which are generally discarded in coastal regions through local markets and fish processing industries. Nowadays, it is being eyed as a newer bioresource. Fish scales are good source of chitin and chitosan. Very little information is available related to extraction of chitosan from fish scales. In this study fish scale waste from markets around Chennai was used for extraction of chitosan. Chitosan is extracted from the fish scales and the physicochemical properties of the extracted chitosan were characterized by FTIR, UV-Visible spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The antibacterial activity of chitosan against different sea food pathogens pathogens like Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholerae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhii, Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae was evaluated by calculation of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Antioxidant activity for chitosan was performed with various concentration of 20 µm-100 µm and the scavenging activity of the sample is calculated as 15%. The physiochemical properties and FTIR and XRD studies confirm the production of chitosan, because of its high antibacterial activity against pathogens, hence chitosan can be widely used in food preservation, manufacture of wound dressing and in antimicrobial finished textiles.