EFFECTS OF STOCKING DENSITY ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND FEED UTILIZATION OF NILE TILAPIA FINGERLINGS UNDER BIOFLOC SYSTEM

A. Eid1; K. Elsayed1; M.M. Said2; E.M. Taha1; Badia A. Ali1;

Hemdan E. Eissa3 and Yassir Khattab4,5

1Department of Animal and Fish Resources- Faculty of Agriculture – Suez Canal University –Ismailia -Egypt.

2Department of Aquaculture Technology – Faculty of Fish Resources – Suez University – Suez – Egypt.

3Mariculture research Centre – Arish University – Egypt.

4Department of Biology – Faculty of science – Taif University – Taif – Saudi Arabia.

5Department of Fish Nutrition – Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research – Abbassa – Abo Hammad – Sharkia – Egypt.

Received 25 /10 /2020

Accepted 27 /11 /2020

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate the effect of stocking density under biofloc technique (BFT) on growth performance, feed utilization, water quality and zooplankton counts of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings. Three stocking density (200, 300 and 400 Fish / m3) under Biofloc system (BS) and clear system (CS) (without external carbon addition) were applied. Nile tilapia with an initial body weight of 20.35±0.35 grams were stocked in 18 cylindrical fiberglass tanks with water volume 50 litters for 75 days. The fish was fed commercial diet containing 30% protein, Starch was added on Biofloc system treatments as the carbon source to set the C/N ratio at 15/1. Results showed that the best growth performance and feed utilization were recorded for 200 fish/m3 under Biofloc system. For both CS and BS systems, water quality parameters were within the normal range. It could conclude that the growth performance, feed utilization and zooplankton count were all improved with following the biofloc system (limited water exchange) compared with clear system with a superior performance with the stocking density 200/ m3 under this experimental conditions.

Key words:
Biofloc system, Stocking density, Nile tilapia, Fingerlings, Growth performance, Feed utilization, Water quality, Zooplankton.

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