Authors

Rey L. Roa

Author

Helen J. Vicente

Co-author

Mindanao State University at Naawan, Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The ability of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) for compensatory growth response following a period of starvation was investigated in the MSUN-IFRD Laboratory. The effects of food deprivation on growth performance, feed response, survival, and chemical composition of fish muscle of GET Excel tilapia juveniles were studied. The juveniles (1.19 - 1.62g) were subjected to different periods of starvation: 0, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days (representing the control T1 and experimental treatments T2, T3, T4 and T5), after which they were fed for 30 days. Periodic sampling was done every seven days to determine survival and change in weight of tilapia juveniles. Juveniles starved for shorter periods (2-3 days) recovered faster (<18 days) and showed accelerated growth earlier than those starved for a longer period (4-5 days). By the end of the third culture period, the weight gain of juveniles in T2 (1.02g) and T3 (0.98g) has caught up with the weight gain of the control (0.99g). On the other hand, weight gain of T4 (0.77g) and of T5 (0.76g) were significantly lower (P<0.05) from the first three treatments. Specific growth rate (SGR) in T2 (2.96% BW.d⁻¹) and T3 (2.84% BW.d⁻¹) were also comparable (P>0.05) with T1 (2.86% BW.d⁻¹) after 18 days of culture (DOC). Feed conversion efficiencies (FCE) of T2 (53.68%) and T3 (54.01%) were significantly higher (P<0.05) than other treatments after 24 DOC. Mean survival rates (83.3-90.0%) by the end of the culture were not significant (P>0.05) in all treatments. Difference in weight gain, SGR, FCR, feed requirements, and protein content of fish muscle were not significant among the treatments (P>0.05) when the experiment was terminated. The result showed that GET Excel tilapia juveniles demonstrated a positive compensatory growth and high survival rate after being subjected to up to 5 days of starvation.