Fatty acid composition of four potential aquatic weeds and their possible use as fish-feed neutraceuticals

A study was conducted to explore the fatty acid composition of four aquatic weeds, namely Salvinia cuculata, Trapa natans, Lemna minor and Ipomoea reptans collected from water bodies of Assam, India. It has been observed that C24:1 (Cis-15 Tetracosenoic acid) followed by C16:1 n-3 (9-Hexadecenoic acid) are the predominant fatty acids in these aquatic weeds and among them, Ipomoea reptans and Trapa natans contain higher proportions of C18:2 and C18:3 PUFA. The ratio of saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid is extremely low in the case of all four plants and they contain a predominant proportion of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), essential for the growth and proper performance of fish.