This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inclusion (1.2%) on pacu performance and fillet fatty acids deposition and profile. A hundred and twelve growing pacus (256.19 ± 24.09 g of initial weight) were allotted to a completely randomized design with two treatments and four replicates, in eight tanks (1 m³ each) and hand fed to apparent satiation, three times a day, for 60 days. Extruded diet with 28% CP and 3,000 kcal DE/kg of ration was fed. Every each two week, eight fish per treatment (two per replicate) were collected to determine the fillet fatty acid composition. Broken-line analysis indicated that the cis-9, trans-11, trans-10, cis-12 and the total CLA maximum deposition in "pacu" tissue muscle were established at 23, 20 and 21 days, respectively. CLA was deposited in high concentrations in all pacu tissues studied. No differences on performance and whole fish, fillet and liver compositions were observed. CLA dietary inclusion affected the total percentages of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in whole fish, fillet and liver. It was concluded that pacu can incorporate CLA in whole body and fillet up to 3.6% of total lipids.
fillet; growth; lipids; n-3; n-6; Piaractus mesopotamicus
