Short-term Evaluation of Graded Levels of Dietary Garlic Powder (<i>Allium sativum</i> L.) as Growth Promoter on Growth, Survival and Feed Utilization of Redbelly Tilapia, <i>Tilapia zillii</i> Reared in Glass Aquaria Tanks

Abstract

Research findings on garlic-supplemented diets as growth promoters, immune-stimulants and antistress in tilapia species are well documented. In spite of this, an ideal dosage, duration regime, and mode of administration for garlic ( Allium sativum ) to obtain significant growth rates in tilapia production are yet to be well tested. Thus, the present study demonstrated a laboratory experiment to optimize the optimum graded level for the growth, nutrient utilization and survival of red belly Tilapia zillii reared in twelve glass aquaria tanks for 28 days. One hundred and eighty T. zillii fry with average body weight of 0.03 g were randomly stocked in each aquarium with average water holding capacity of 0.01m3 and at a stocking density of 15 fish / glass aquarium. Experimental fish were fed diets supplemented with garlic powder (GP) at 0 (control), 1%, 2%, and 3% / kg diet at a ratio of 3% of their body weight for a period of 28 days. The results of this study revealed that fish group fed on GP at 3% graded level had significant (P 0.05) in the water quality parameters recorded among all the treatments. The study recommends that T. zillii should be fed on a garlic-containing diet at3% / kg diet to achieve significant growth rates and to reduce the stunted growth which is the bottleneck in tilapia industries. Further research to analyze the functional mechanism behind the physiological activity of garlic-supplemented diets in different finfish species is proffered.