Dietary lipid composition did not significantly affect either the
whole body tissue or dorsal muscle proximate composition (moisture,
ash, protein and lipid) of fingerling red hybrid tilapia (P > 0.05) (Table 4). In the whole body samples, moisture and ash
ranged from 71.9–73.2% and 3.7–4.1%, respectively, crude protein
from 14.3–15.1% and total lipid from 7.1–7.8%. In the dorsal muscle
samples, moisture and ash ranged from 77.7–78.4%, crude protein
from 17.7–18.1% and total lipid from 1.2–1.3%. The total lipid contents
of both whole body and dorsal muscle samples were similar
from each treatment group. It was observed that the whole body
protein levels of the fish at the start of the feeding trial were lower
than the values from any of the treatment groups and that the lipid
levels were lower in the whole body tissue and in the dorsal muscle
samples from the initial fish than from the treatment groups at
the end of the feeding trial