Quality of polyunsaturated fatty acids in Nile tilapias (Oreochromis niloticus) fed with vitamin E supplementation

摘要

Freshwater fish are an important source of protein, but they also contain other highly nutritive compo-nents such as fats. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential for normal growth, development and reproduction of vertebrates. The antioxidant role of vitamin E in cell membranes prevents fatty acid and cholesterol oxidation, thereby promoting PUFA and subcellular particle stabilization. The effects of vita-min E supplementation on the quality of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) carcass were investigated. The experiments were carried out in an experimental laboratory over 106 d. After sex reversal, 400 early juve-nile 0. niloticus were tested in a completely randomized experiment with 5 treatments (4 repetitions each), consisting of vitamin E monophosphate supplementation at 0, 50,100,150 or 200 mg/kg of a base diet. Treatment diets contained equal amounts of protein and energy. Tilapias supplemented with vita-min E contained arachidonic acid (20:4 ω-6; AA) which participates in inflammatory response. Nile tila-pia carcasses that received vitamin E at 100 and 150 mg/kg diet had improved carcass quality by increasing the PUFA:SFA ratio and had the highest levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids from the omega-3 (linolenic acid; 18:3 ω-3) and omega-6 (linoleic acid; 18:2 ω-6) series.