A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary cinnamaldehyde on the carbohydrate and fat utilization, blood biochemistry, and growth of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus at different dose treatments 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 g kg-1 of feed which corresponded to T1, T2, T3,T4, and T5, respectively . Each treatment was replicated 5 times under a completely randomized design (CRD), using ANOVA with a 95% confidence interval and Duncan’s test. The experimental run lasted in 60 days at the BDP-FPIK-IPB Wet Laboratoty. Based on the results, cinnamaldehyde inclusion of 0.05% showed better performance in glucose absorption, which indicated further that trans-cinnamaldehyde 99% is more active than any other ingredients. The inclusion as low as 0.25 % in Tilapia was still very efficient in lipid utilization and improving the muscle protein which is more economical from the production point of view. The fatty acid oxidation process could reduce fat deposits so as to produce low-fat meat of good quality. An appropriate inclusion level of cinnamaldehyde within the levels used in this study in tilapia diets, could also be beneficial feeding strategy used to normalize the flesh levels of beneficial omega-3 HUFAs to revert to a fish oil-based diet at an appropriate time before harvest. The inclusion level 0.5% in this study is more efficient as far as protein deposition for growth or the balance nutrient utilization is concerned, and the inclusion as low as 0.5% could be useful in improving the antioxidant activity in Nile tilapia.The digestive enzyme activities of Nile tilapia revealed that cinnamaldehyde increased the amylase activity in the intestine which could increase the absorption of glucose which increase protein sparing effect . Protein was basically used for growth in his study. Futhermore, 0.05% cinnamaldehyde inclusion increased the growth of Nile better than other treatments.Cinnamaldehyde improve lipid utilization in all treatments, but in terms of growth, these findings indicated that 0.5% is more efficient to apply in feeds. Based on SGR analysis by a polynomial orthogonal analysis at ANOVA ( Sig 0.049), the optimum dosage of cinnamaldehyde inclusion ( 0.42 g / kg) lower the 0.5%, the use of cinnamaldehyde at this level is economically efficient lower than in the previous study that applied dose of 1 and 2 mL/kg feed.
KEYWORDS : Nile tilapia, cinnamaldehyde, supplementation, nutrient utilization, growth