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Protein requirements of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) fry cultured at different salinities
Author(s) -
LarumbeMorán Edvino,
HernándezVergara Martha P,
OlveraNovoa Miguel A,
Pérez Rostro Carlos I
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2109.2009.02402.x
Subject(s) - nile tilapia , oreochromis , salinity , biology , zoology , tilapia , aeration , weight gain , body weight , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , ecology , endocrinology
Effect of isolipidic (62.7 ± 5.0 g kg −1 ) diets with protein levels of 204.6 (T20), 302.3 (T30), 424.6 (T40) or 511.0 g kg −1 (T50) on growth and survival in Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus 1758) fry cultured for 70 days at one of four salinities (0, 15, 20 and 25 g L −1 ) was evaluated. A bifactorial (4 × 4) design was used with 16 treatments run in triplicate and 20 fry (0.25 ± 0.04 g) per replicate under semi‐controlled conditions. Four independent, recirculating systems (one per salinity level) were used, each one with 12 circular tanks (70 L capacity), filters and constant aeration. The different salinities had no significant effect on growth. Weight gain improved significantly as dietary protein content increased, although organisms fed the T50 diet had a lower growth rate. Survival was highest (98.33%) in the T50/15 (protein/salinity levels) treatment and lowest (71.0%) in the T20/20 treatment, with no pattern caused by the variables. The T40/25, T40/20 and T50/0 treatments produced the most efficient growth and feed utilization values while the T20 treatments at all the salinities resulted with the lowest performance. With the exception of the T50 treatments, a non‐significant tendency to increased weight gain was observed as water salinity increased, suggesting that the salinity of the culture environment does not influence dietary protein requirements in Nile tilapia O. niloticus fry.