Effect of microalgae feed supplementation on growth performance and feeding efficiency of tilapia fry

Abstract

Abstract Search for novel best-performing starter feed ingredients is one of the main challenges of modern aquaculture industry. The goal of this article was to evaluate the effect of microalgae supplementation enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated eicosapentaenoic acid and powerful antioxidant fucoxanthin on grows and performance of Red tilapia fry (Oreochromis mossambicus × Oreochromis niloticus). We formulated three experimental diets, using two strains of microalgae from our culture collection – Vischeria magna (Petersen) Kryvenda, Rybalka, Wolf & Friedl SBV-108 (class Eustigmatophyceae), rich with eicosapentaenoic acid and Mallomonas furtiva Gusev, Certnerová, Škaloudová & Škaloud SBV-13 (class Chrysophyceae), rich with fucoxanthin – and their combination. Vischeria magna SBV-108 is a new strain whose biochemical properties and growth characteristics have not been previously studied. Coppens Supreme-15 was used as control diet. The best performing was omega-3 enriched Diet 1 (10% w/w Vischeria magna), that significantly (P < 0.05) overperformed control feed on absolute growth, average growth, specific growth rate, feed conversion rate, protein efficiency ratio, protein productive value and energy productive value. Diet 3 (5% w/w Vischeria magna and 5% w/w Mallomonas furtiva) and Diet 2 (10% w/w Mallomonas furtiva) were not significantly different from control at most parameters. Generally, supplementation of feed with microalgae rich in omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid significantly improved Red tilapia fry growth parameters and overall feed performance, while supplementation of feed with microalgae rich in antioxidant fucoxanthin was not beneficial compared to control.