Effect of three commercial fish feeds on growth performance and feed conversion of 1758) fingerlings, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus

Qusay Al-Hamadany(1)*, Abd Alkareem Yesser(1),and Shaymaa AAl-Jumaiee(1)

Dep. of Marine vertebrates, Marine Science Center, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.

(*Corresponding author:. Qusay Al-Hamadany E-Mail: qusayhamid@yahoo.com).

Received: 28/05/ 2022          Acceptance: 20/07/ 2022

Abstract: 

As natural fish stocks have declined and food demand has increased, the importance of the aquaculture sector has grown, particularly for animal protein, which has become an important component of the aquaculture sector. The most expensive component of aquaculture is fish feeding, which accounts for more than 60% of total production costs. A 60-day laboratory study was conducted to compare three types of commercial fish feed. The first feed was locally related to the College of Agriculture – at the University of Basra and assigned the code (T1), the second was imported from the Al-Tayseer Company (Jordan) and assigned the code (T2), and the third feed was imported from the Iranian Kimia grand Company and assigned the code (T3) to determine the extent to which it meets the nutritional requirements and growth performance of Nile tilapia fingerlings Oreochromis niloticus. The chemical composition of the three commercial fish feeds revealed differences in protein content, with the T2 feed having the highest protein content. The statistical analysis revealed significant (P ≤0.05) differences in growth performance in Nile tilapia fed on the three commercial feeds. T2 produced higher final weight, relative, and specific growth rates. T2 had the highest food conversion ratio of 1.6.  The three-feed physical tests revealed that the T3 (1.02 g/cm3) had a lower specific density than the T1 (1.95 g/cm3) and T2 (1.48 g/cm3). With the longest floating period of 75 minutes. The T2 feed had the highest water stability (90.38 minutes), while the T3 feed had the lowest (70.16 minutes). The study found that the T2 feed encourages better growth performance in Nile tilapia fish than in other tested feeds.

  Keywords: commercial diets, physical properties, Oreochromis niloticus, growth performance, chemical composition.

Full paper in Arabic: pdf