Asian-Pacific Aquaculture 2024

July 2 - 5, 2024

Surabaya, Indonesia

A PROPER EARLY LIFE NUTRITION PROGRAM IMPROVES PERFORMANCE OF TILAPIA IN INTENSIVE FARMING SYSTEM

Minh Anh Pham, Truong Ngoc Thao, Marc Campet

ADM Aquaculture Research and Development Center

Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000 , Vietnam

Anhminh.pham@adm.com

 



Early life nutrition  can have significant impacts on the development of tissues and organs, and consequently affect  growth and health status of  fish in later  life stages.  It is reported that  tilapia larva  develop faster when the adequate density of fish per tank and  the proper quantity of food per fish are provided (Fujimura and Okada, 2007). In this series of trials, we demonstrate the effects of stocking density on growth rate and feed utilization of tilapia fry, and the impacts of a proper nutritional program on growth performance and economic profitability in tilapia farming. In the first trial, tilapia fries were stocked  into 48 tanks (200 L/tank) at densities of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 fries/L ,  and fed to apparent satiation  twice per day for 8 weeks. In the second trial, tilapia fries were stocked at a density of 0.5 fry /tank, and fed with two different diets. After nursery period, the fish were transferred into grow-out cages in ponds and raised until harvestable size. By the end of each trial, survival, final live weight, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated and compared between  the  treatment groups. Results of the first trial show that no obvious impacts of stocking density on survivability of the fish (Survival of all groups is greater than 95%.) , but  final live weight  gradually decreased  and feed conversion ratio significantly increased when stocking density increased. And the highest weight gain and the lowest FCR were obtained at the stocking density of 0.5 fry/L (or 100 fries/tank). Results of the second trial demonstrate that feeding a proper nursery feed, not only improve growth performance of the fish during nursery stages, but also increase harvestable size and economic profitability of tilapia farming.