Effects of Different Feeding Regimes on the Growth and Compensatory Growth of Juvenile Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus

Abstract

Feed and feeding regimes are relevant to any successful commercial aquaculture investments the world over. Feeding cost alone approximates about 55% of any fish farming venture. The number of feeding days per week and frequency of feed administered influences growth rate amongst other factors. In order to reduce waste and increase profitability in any aquaculture venture, the frequency and number of feeding days per week will obviously play a dominant role. Improved feeding strategies will not only increase profit margins but will invariably spare additional time for fish farmers to invest in other spheres of economic activities.This research was conducted to investigate the most appropriate feeding regime per week on growth that could be adopted for juvenile Nile tilapia. The phenomenon of compensatory growth was equally investigated as insufficient information is available relating this specie to feed and compensatory growth. The juvenile Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus were fed using 4 different weekly regimes. Each treatment was in quadruplet and was fed 3 times daily for 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days per week. At the end of the growth experiment, treatments in duplicates were fed 3 times daily for 7 days per week to investigate the phenomenon of compensatory growth. The results showed that the optimal growth occurs within 5 to 7 weekly feeding days. Juvenile Nile tilapia demonstrated full or complete compensatory capacity as the least fed group grew and caught up with the most fed group of 7 feeding days per week. These results are discussed in relation to earlier works on feeding rates and compensatory growth.