Effect of feeding regimes on growth performance of juvenile hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis aureus).

Abstract

All male hybrid tilapia weighing 14.51±0.03g (mean ±SE) were reared in hapas earthen ponds for 6 months. The control group was fed to satiation twice a day throughout the experiment. The other three groups were deprived of feed for 1, 2 and 3 days per week, respectively for 4 months and then fed to the satiation during the next 2 months as the control group during the full feeding period. At the end of the experiment, fish deprived for 1 or 2 days had body weights nearly the same compared to the control group. There were significant differences in feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein utilization efficiency (PUE), between the control group and the other treatment groups for the favor of the control group. In carcass analysis the moisture, ash and protein contents were increased in fish deprived for 3 days compared to the control meanwhile ether extract (EE) and energy were decreased. It can be concluded that juvenile hybrid tilapia reared in fresh water showed good growth performance with reducing feeding costs in moderate feed restriction deprivation regime (skip 1,2 days of feeding). However, in case of higher feed restriction regime (3 days) they failed to get good growth performance and to compensate growth retardation due to feed restriction.