Assefa  Tessem, Sewmohon  Demssie, Goraw  Goshu, 
    Evaluation of Solar Tent and Drying Rack Methods for the Production of Quality Dried Fish Used in Lake Tana Area,
    Journal of Fisheries International,
    Volume 8,Issue 1,
    2013,
    Pages 7-12,
    ISSN 1817-3381,
    jfish.2013.7.12,
    (https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jfish.2013.7.12)
    Abstract: A study was conducted at Bahir Dar Fish and Other Aquatic 
  Life Research Centre to evaluate solar tent and drying rack methods of fish 
  drying. Three different fish types (<I>Labeo barbus</I>, <I>Clarias gariepinus</I> 
  and <I>Oreochromis niloticus</I>) were sampled from Lake Tana during the period 
  May, 2006 to April, 2008. The sampled fish were filleted and dried either in 
  solar tent dryer (made of wood and plastic) or in the open air on a drying rack. 
  Solar tent dried the fish in filleted form with better product quality. The 
  moisture content of the product decreased to &lt;25% and as a result it had 
  a longer shelf life. Duration of drying was significantly shorter with solar 
  tent (2 days) than with drying rack (4 days). Duration of drying was also shorter 
  during the pre-rainy and dry season (1-2 days) than the main rainy and post-rainy 
  season (3-5 days). Clarias gariepinus dried in solar tent had higher moisture 
  content than <I>Labeo barbus</I> and <I>Oreochromis niloticus </I>but the moisture 
  content was &lt;25%. Calculated weight loss showed statistically significant 
  difference with respect to both dryer types and seasons (p&lt;0.05). Quantification 
  of bacterial load, qualitative analysis and biochemical test showed that the 
  bacterial load had pooled median abundance of log 3.64ACC per gram of fish and 
  t ranged from log 1.9-6.04. The bacterial load increased after 6 months of storage. 
  There was no salmonella detected in the stored dried fish. There was significant 
  difference in hedonic scale values in dryer type (p&lt;0.05). A further study 
  on microbial load of dried filleted fish should be done in order to observe 
  seasonal and species variation in microbial load.
    Keywords: Solar tent;drying rack;microbial load;product quality;dry season