Evaluation of pepsin derived tilapia fish waste protein hydrolysate as a feed ingredient for silver pompano (Trachinotus blochii) fingerlings: Influence on growth, metabolism, immune and disease resistance

Fish protein hydrolysate (FPH) has gained importance in recent times due to its growth and health promoting properties. Forty days feeding trial was carried out to study the effect of FPH prepared from tilapia fish processing waste (TFW) on growth, metabolism, immunity and resistance against bacterial infection induced by Vibrio anguillarum in silver pompano (Trachinotus blochii) fingerlings. During the study, fishes were fed practical diets containing 0, 30, 60 and 90 g/kg tilapia protein hydrolysate (TPH) at 70 g/kg body weight per day initially which was gradually reduced to 30 g/kg. Animals fed with 90 g/kg tilapia protein hydrolysate in diet showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher weight gain percentage, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio. Similarly, metabolic enzyme activities were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in control group which decreased gradually with increasing level of TPH supplemented in diet. Significantly (P < 0.05) higher lysozyme activity and disease resistance against Vibrio anguillarum was observed in the fishes fed with 90 g/kg tilapia protein hydrolysate in diet. It can be concluded from the study that dietary supplementation of TPH shows promising results in terms of improved growth, metabolism, immune response and resistance against bacterial infection in silver pompano fingerlings.

Automated summary

The study reveals that dietary supplementation of tilapia protein hydrolysate significantly improves growth performance, metabolic enzyme activities, immune response, and resistance against bacterial infection in silver pompano fingerlings.