Effect of dietary organic acid salts, potassium diformate and sodium diformate on the growth performance of male Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus

Abstract

The effect of two organic acid salts on the production performance of juvenile male Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus were studied in two separate experiments. In the first trial the fish (initial size: 7.84kg) were fed commercial feed supplemented with 0,3% potassium diformate (KDF) while in the second trial the fish (initial size: 16.48 kg) were fed diets supplemented with 0,3% sodium diformate (NDF). The control group for both trials used the same commercial fish feed with no supplementation. The feeding trials lasted for 74 and 78 days, respectively. Results showed that the supplementation of either KDF or NDF significantly improved growth and feed conversion of male Nile tilapia compared to the control group. The fish in the KDF treatment had a mean final weight of 51.4g and FCR of 1.81 compared to 45.4g and 1.97, respectively, for the control. Mean final weight and FCR of fish in the NDF treatment were 66.2g and 0.69, respectively, while those of the control were 58.7g and 0.77. The condition factor of the fish in both trials was not affected by treatment.