Total lipid nutritional quality of the adipose tissue from the orbital cavity in Nile tilapia from continental aquaculture

ABSTRACT. This study aimed to determine the fatty acid composition and nutritional quality indexes of total lipids in adipose tissue from the orbital cavity of Nile tilapia from continental aquaculture in Paraiba State, Brazil. The tilapias were captured in six fish farms, and after slaughtering and bleeding, the adipose tissue from the orbital cavity was reserved, frozen and lyophilized for analysis of fatty acid composition by gas chromatography. By decreasing order, oleic, palmitic, linoleic, stearic, and palmitoleic acids were the most abundant ones. Monounsaturated fatty acids were the most prominent group in orbital cavity adipose tissue, where as polyunsaturated fatty acids were most abundant in the diet, with a percentage of linolenic acid ranging from 32.99 to 37.57%. Nutritional quality indexes of lipids varied from 0.491 to 0.575 for Atherogenicity Index, 0.543 to 0.741 for Thrombogenicity Index, and from 1.918 to 2.176 regarding the ratio of hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic. According to the composition of fatty acids and the nutritional quality of total lipids, the use of this byproduct can be recommended for human consumption or to elaborate products for animal intake.