Authors : Hasan H. Ata, Suleyman Bekcan and Murtaza Olmez
Abstract: Tilapias are one of the most important domesticated fish today. Production widely distributed around the world. Lecithin also known as Phosphatidyicholine (PC), is a special type of lipid (a phospholipid) found naturally in the body. Research has shown that crustaceans and fish cannot adequately synthesise the phospholipids they require for maximum performance. Therefore, phospholipids must be added to their diet. Therefore, the experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of soybean lecithin on the growth and performance of feed conversion in Tilapia fry. The experimental period was planned as a 3 months period. Twenty one aquariums (7 groups-3 replicates) were used and 25 fish were stocked at the rate of 200 fish m-3 in each aquarium, by a completely randomized design. The effects of supplementary feeding of the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fry with feeds enriched with soybean lecithin were evaluated by adding soybean lecithin to the basal diet at the rate of 1-5%. The fish were fed for 90 days to check the growth, protein efficiency ratio, feed conversion ratio, body composition and survival ratio. At the end of experiment, the best live weight increase was found to be 3% protein efficiency ratio and the feed conversion ratio was found to be 1.90 and 1.75, respectively in the 2% lecithin-treated group, supplementing soybean lecithin at the rate of 4 and 5%, which enhanced the fat content of treated fish (p<0.05).
Hasan H. Ata, Suleyman Bekcan and Murtaza Olmez, 2009. The Effects of Dietary of Soybean Lecithin on the Growth Performance Feed Conversion and Body Composition of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) Fry. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 8: 1678-1684.