Performance and body composition of Nile tilapia fed diets supplemented with AminoGut® during sex reversal period

Abstract

The present study was to evaluate the effects of the commercial product AminoGut® (Ajinomoto, SP), a source of glutamine and glutamate, on performance and body composition of Nile tilapia fingerlings. A study was conducted with 26,000 Gift strain tilapias, with seven days of age during the sex reversal, with initial weight and length of 0.037±0.09 g and 13.28±0.78 mm. The fish were distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications, totaling 1,300 fish/tank of 0,5m3 each one. Control diet was used with approximately 500 g/kg of crude protein and 3,840 kcal/ kg of digestible energy. The AminoGut® was added to the control diet at a ratio of 5, 10, 15 and 20g/kg to replace L-alanine. Each diet was provided 10 times per day at intervals of one hour, from 8:00 until 17:00, for 30 days. No effect was observed on weight gain (p>0.05) in fish fed with increasing levels of Aminogut®. However, a positive linear effect (p<0.05) on feed conversion, protein efficiency ratio and survival of the fish supplemented was verified. The inclusion of Aminogut® up to 20 g/kg improves the feed conversion, protein efficiency ratio and survival, parameters of Nile tilapia during sex reversal.