Tilapia nutrition

Growing global needs for food call for substantial increases in protein production in coming years, and for diligent conservation efforts. Manures from farm animals have been viewed both as a resource and as a waste product, but they are critically important sources of nutrients for organic and integrated farming and for traditional Asian aquaculture. Given constraints on livestock production and capture fisheries, careful development of the aquaculture industry is a necessity. The production volume and market share of tilapia are advancing extremely rapidly, and so too is the proliferation of misinformation and controversy. Culture and feeding practices differ widely, but feeding is usually recognized as the single largest cost to producers. Traditional Asian integrated farming practices involve the use of manures and other farm wastes to promote algae and zooplankton production, serving as a sole or supplemental nutrient source to the food chain that supports tilapia growout. Tilapia also ingest manures. The efficient use of nutrients from manures can have multiple benefits to integrated terrestrial agriculture and aquaculture, as long as product safety and quality are not compromised. With efficient use, handling of manures is simplified, fish production costs are reduced, fish nutrition can be improved, and potentially polluting materials are cycled constructively on integrated farms. Consumer and press reactions to the use of farm manures in food production can be highly polarized. Published responses cover a range of extremes, from enthusiastic endorsement to volatile reactions and outright rejection; in some areas this practice is considered to be more of a “PR (Public Relations) problem” than a health hazard.  The perception in online public media that tilapia coming from ponds fertilized with manure are heavily contaminated with pathogens has not been supported by evidence. The perspectives of farmers in two major tilapia production areas (China and the Philippines) are included.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of dietary maltose level on growth performance and feed utilization of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. Five treatments, including control with three replicates with setup.
Randomized distributed of fingerlings (mean weight, 2.1 ±0.2 g) were stocked in 30 fishes per tank, which attached with
recycled water system comprising of mechanical filtration and aerated using air stones. The temperature was 27.5±0.25°C
throughout the experimental period. Pellet of formulated-diets containing 0.0, 20, 25, 30 or 35% maltose was handed fed to
apparent satiation twice daily at a rate of 5% of live body weight. The fishes were weighed once every 2 weeks during the
experiment for 12 weeks. No casualty of Nile tilapia was recorded throughout the experiment. Fishes fed with 35 % maltose exhibited significantly higher growth performance; body weight and weight gain compared with control. The best specific growth rate (SGR) was obtained of fishes fed with feed E (1.44±0.04), but no significant difference compared with control, while fishes fed with feed B exhibited the lowest SGR value (1.34±0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) in fishes fed with 35% maltose (1.01±0.02) was greater than 20, 25 or 30% maltose (1.16 to 1.26). Although, fishes fed with 20% maltose exhibited the lowers FCR (1.26±0.03) compared to all groups, but it’s not different significantly compared to 35% maltose treated fish and control (1.07±0.01). This finding indicated that incorporation of maltose in fish diet had been efficiently utilized for Nile tilapia and contributed to their body-mass.

Keywords: Oreochromis niloticus, maltose, growth performance and feed utilization