Growth of Tilapia Aurea as a Function of Degree of Dietary Lipid Saturation
Tilapia aurea fingerlings were fed semipurified diets differing only in the degree of saturation in the lipid component (soybean oil). Growth improved significantly as degree of unsaturation in dietary lipid increased. All fish became depleted in high (> 18 carbon atom) molecular weight polyunsaturated fatty acids during the course of the study. This may indicate that desaturation and elongation of such dietary fatty acids as linoleic and linolenic acid either did not occur or was so slow that such fatty acids as 20:5n-3, 22:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 were metabolized before appearing in the...
