Growth and gastrointestinal indices in Nile tilapia fed with different diets

Wladimir Ronald Lobo Farias,Plácido Soares De Moura,Lucas Pinheiro Silveira,Ricardo Lafaiete Moreira,Erivânia Gomes Teixeira,Antonio Glaydson Lima Moreira

doi:10.4025/actascianimsci.v34i3.13327

Wladimir Ronald Lobo Farias, Plácido Soares De Moura + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4025/actascianimsci.v34i3.13327

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Abstract

The adequate diet of Nile tilapia in their growth early stages is fundamental to the success of culture subsequent stages. The goal of the present work was to evaluate the Nile tilapia growth fed with different diets, and to morphometrically characterized the gastrointestinal tract of this species. The treatments consisted of three diets: (D1) natural food, (D2), commercial feed and (D3) commercial feed + natural food. In the qualitative phytoplankton analysis, there was greater representation of the genus Chlorella, while zooplankton community analysis revealed greater number of Brachionus rotifer. Growth and survival in D2 and D3 did not reveal differences (p > 0.05), while in D1, the results were significantly lower (p < 0.05). The gastro-somatic and entero-somatic indices, and the intestinal quotient revealed higher values when only natural food was available. Nile tilapia reached best zootechnical performance when commercial feed was included in the diet. The intake of natural and/or artificial food is related to the growth and development of the gastrointestinal indices, emphasizing that these indicators can be altered by the type of feeding.

Highlights

The activity of aquiculture has increased through a process of professionalization, where the producer is closer to the used management and inputs (FILHO et al, 2010)
The aim of this study was to determine the growth of the Nile tilapia fed different diets, and to morphometrically characterize the gastrointestinal tract of this species
Turker et al (2003b) cultured tilapia in algal-rich water dominated by green algae (i.e., Scenedesmus and Ankistrodesmus) and cyanobacteria (i.e., Microcystis and Merismopedia) to determine filtration rates

Summary

Introduction

The activity of aquiculture has increased through a process of professionalization, where the producer is closer to the used management and inputs (FILHO et al, 2010). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2009), fish farming business increases more than other animal production enterprise and Brazil ranks sixth, among the world’s leading producers of tilapia, accounting for 3.3% of total production. Animal Sciences important role in ensuring the success of subsequent stages of farming. The use of artificial diets as the only source of food may not bring good results for most fish species in their early stages of development, and live food can bring more satisfactory effects (BOSCOLO et al, 2001). According to Faria et al (2001) certain species confer a greater survival for post-larvae of Nile tilapia and can be used as a Maringá, v. Lu et al (2004) used the microalgae S. platensis, Euglena gracilis and Chlorella vulgaris as food supplementation during the post-larval period of Nile tilapia. The authors evaluated the rates of ingestion (IT) for each microalgae and concluded that S. platensis was the most efficient of the species tested, with ingestion rates of 80%

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