POTENTIALS OF PLANT POLYPHENOL FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE OF FARMED TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

Aquaculture is a thriving industry leading the contribution of country’s total fish requirement. Recently significant attempt have been done to uplift and improve the production of fish by rearing high value fish in ponds. This experiment introduces a new natural bioactive additive from sugarcane plants (Saccharum officinarium) named as Polyphenol which have the potential to replace some of the functions of feed additives because it is high in antioxidants, rich in minerals, nutrients, essential amino acids and also has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. The experiment was conducted in cages where Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were stocked in 16 cages at 80 fish per cage and subjected to four treatments with each treatment replicated in four times. Polyphenol, which is the test ingredient, was added at 0% (T0) (regarded as control or without Polyphenol), 0.2% (T1), 0.4% (T2), and 0.6% (T3) in the four diets respectively. After stocking of fish, sampling was done in regular interval of one week to check the growth performance of fish and also adjust the feeding rate. During stocking of fish, the average weight and length of fish was 2.24 g and 3.21 cm. Final sampling showed that the average weight of each treatment such as T0, T1, T2 and T3 were 86.64±7g, 93.3± 7.4 g, 108.71±14 g and 89.78±10.8 g respectively. It indicates that, the average weight was increased at T2 (0.4%) treated feed. And the average length of fish was increased which fed with T2 (0.4%) [(18.25±.29)] treated fish than the T0 (17.34±.25), T1 (18±.41) and T3 (18.13±.25) treated fish. Among the four treatments, T2 (0.4%) showed better growth [(108.71±14) g] than the control [(86.64±7) g] (p<0.05). T2 has lower FCR value (1.59) than the control (2). Diet containing 0.4% polyphenol showed increased final body weight, weight gain than the diet containing without polyphenol (p<0.05). Fish fed with 0.4% and 0.6% polyphenol resulted in increased length and length gain than the diet containing without polyphenol (p<0.05). Due to this reason, Polyphenols can be considered as feed additives in the nutrition of aquaculture species.