Fatty Acid Composition of Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) Fish Muscle from Different Locations in Bangladesh

Abstract

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is a highly preferred food fish in Bangladesh and the best source of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoie acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The present study was to investigate the variations of fatty acid composition of hilsa collected from Barisal, Patuakhali, Bhola, Cox’s Bazar, Chandpur and Shariatpur fish markets in Bangladesh. Hilsa fish oils were obtained from fish muscle using the wet rendering method, followed by fatty acid composition by gas chromatography. Further, the acid value, iodine value, peroxide value and free fatty acid value were also investigated and the values found to be 4.04–6.45 mg KOH/g, 5.02–6.01 meq O2/kg, 54.90–72.06 g I2/100g and 2.03–2.72% respectively. In general, fatty acid compositions ranged from 44.61% to 47.94% saturated (SFA), 32.76% to 36.74% monounsaturated (MUFAs) and 16.34% to 22.04% polyunsaturated acids (PUFAs) in extracted oil of hilsa fish. Among them, the fatty acids myristic acid (C14:0, 7.34–9.56%), palmitic acid (C16:0, 28.93–31.86%), palmitoleic acid (C16:1, 10.15–14.10%), stearic acid (C18:0, 5.96–7.48%), oleic acid (C18:1n-9 cis, 14.36–21.87%), vaccenic acid (C18:1, 3.44–4.03%), linoleic acid (C18:2n-6, 1.17–1.90%), octadecatetraenoic acid (C18:4n-3, 0.92–1.35%), cis-5, 8, 11, 14, 17-eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20: 5n-3, 4.76–8.61%) and cis-4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22: 6n-3, 1.45–2.64%) were maximum in extent. The extent of PUFAs n-3 (ranging from 12.04 to 17.68) were higher than PUFAs n-6 (ranging from 2.45 to 3.20). The results revealed that PUFAs n-3 was highly dominant in Barisal, Bhola and Cox’s Bazar hilsa compared to Patuakhali, Chandpur and Shariatpur hilsa.