Fatty Acid Compositions of Mixed Microalgae from Tilapia Fish Ponds

Microalgae has been getting broad attention of researchers and investors lately, especially when discussing on healthy food and energy sources for the future. In this study, twelve samples of mixed microalgae from outdoor ponds were analyzed for their fatty acid compositions. The potential of microalgae to solve variety of world’s problems was not realized because of bottleneck in microalgal supplies at reasonable cost. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine fatty acid profiles of mixed microalgae from tilapia fish ponds. The study was conducted in Tapak Ternakan Ikan, Taman Pertanian Universiti and Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Mixed microalgae were extracted for their lipids with methanol: chloroform mixture and after transesterification, the fatty acid methyl ester were analyzed using gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization detector. Results showed that saturated was the major constituent fatty acids. The average percentages of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids obtained were 45.62 ± 1.37%, 20.05 ± 1.14%, and 34.33 ± 3.17% respectively. The most dominant fatty acid profiles were C18:3n3 (α-linolenic acid) and C16:0 (palmitic acid), with the overall percentages of 19.97% and 19.40% respectively. The fatty acid profiles of mixed microalgae was good with a decent balance of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.