Abstract:
The increasing worldwide demand for Nile tilapia heightens the need to develop novel
ingredients suitable for balanced diets. Successful partial replacement of fish oils with vegetable
oils is well-documented where adequate growth has been obtained and commercial size reached
within a reasonable time period. Our trials on tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) produced no
changes in feeding behavior when Jatropha curcas oil (JcO) and fish oil (FO) were included in
their diets. Survival rate with FO was lower than all JcO inclusions Replacing 25% FO for JcO
gave significantly lower growth than in any of the other treatments. And JcO-75, JcO-100
present the best growth (weight, size and gain levels) similar to Jc-0 treatment. The tilapia
accepted all diet inclusions and presented normal behavior. Since JcO contains higher levels of
linoleic and linolenic acid than conventional aquaculture ingredients such as fishmeal or soybean
meal, its use as a lipid source was found to be feasible to complement Nile tilapia (O. niloticus)
diets |
