Full Length Research Paper

Growth performance and feed utilization of Tilapia zillii (Gervais, 1848) fed partial or total replacement of fish meal with poultry by-product meal

Önder Yıldırım¹*, Ali Türker¹, Sebahattin Ergün², Murat Yigit² and Anıl Gülşahin¹

¹Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Mugla University, 48000 Kötekli Mugla, Turkey.

²Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 17100 Çanakkale, Turkey.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: onderyildirim@mu.edu.tr.

Accepted 22 May, 2009

The aim of this study was to investigate the growth performance, feed utilization and body composition of Tilapia zillii fed diets where poultry by-product meal replaced fish meal protein at 0, 50 and 100% levels in high energy diets. This is the first research study conducted to evaluate poultry by-product as an alternative feed source for T. zillii. Experimental diets were prepared isonitrogenously and isocalorically (55% CP; 20.5 kJ GE g^-1). Ninety fish (mean weight 2.45 ± 0.04 g) were cultured in glass aquariums containing brackish water (25°C average temperature and 11‰ salinity) for a period of 45 days. At the end of the trial, relative growth rate, specific growth ratio and daily dry protein intake in fish fed diet 1 (control) and 2 (50% poultry by-product meal inclusion) were similar and appeared significantly (p < 0.05) better than the fish fed diet 3 (100% poultry by-product meal inclusion). Feed conversion ratio was significant different among diet 2 and diet 3 (p < 0.05). No differences were found among diets, in terms of fish whole body proximate composition. The results of this study show that T. zilli can be cultured in brackish water with feeding a diet containing 50% poultry by-product meal without any adverse effect on growth performance of fish.

Key words: Tilapia zillii, poultry by-product meal, growth performance, feed utilization, body composition.