Effect of cinnamon essential oil dietary supplementation on the growth, fatty acid composition, and meat quality of tilapia

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of 0%, 0.2%, 0.35%, and 0.5% cinnamon essential oil on growth performance, fatty acid, and fillet quality of tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ). The results of growth experiments showed that the weight gain rate linearly and quadratically increased with increasing cinnamon essential oil doses ( p < 0.05). The results of fatty acids experiments showed that the addition of essential oil significantly decreased the saturated fatty acids levels from 36.67% to 30.82% and increased the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) levels from 24.55% to 46.89%; especially, the n − 3 PUFA of 0.5% essential oil treatment showed the highest levels. Moreover, the n − 6 PUFA of 0.2% essential oil treatment were increased from 22.17% to 32.99%. The results of fillet quality experiments showed that the hardness and cohesiveness were linearly and quadratically increased with the increasing essential oil doses on days 4 and 7, respectively. The b * values linearly and quadratically decreased as the doses increased on day 7 ( p < 0.05). The total volatile basic nitrogen levels were quadratically decreased with increasing cinnamon essential oil doses on day 7 ( p < 0.05). In general, it can be concluded that cinnamon essential oil presented positive effects on the growth, nutritive values, and meat quality in tilapia.