article · Aquaculture Nutrition
Normal growth in Nile tilapia requires temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius. An eight-week trial evaluated the effects of rearing tilapia at suboptimal temperatures around 21.5 degrees Celsius while feeding them diets containing fish oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, or linseed oil. Replacing fish oil with linseed oil improved final weight, average daily weight gain, and intestinal amylase activity compared to fish oil and sunflower oil diets. Linseed oil and corn oil diets also maintained normal growth performance and feed utilisation, whilst elevating total superoxide dismutase activity. Sunflower oil enhanced glutathione peroxidase levels, with fish oil yielding the lowest antioxidant enzyme activity. Across all vegetable oil diets, intestinal and liver tissue structures remained normal, though carcass lipid levels were higher than in the fish oil group. The findings indicate that corn oil or linseed oil can effectively replace fish oil under cooler thermal conditions.
Tilapia farming faces productivity drops when water temperatures fall below optimum levels. Finding suitable lipid substitutes for costly fish oil that support growth and physiological health during cooler conditions helps aquaculture operators maintain fish welfare and performance without relying on expensive marine ingredients.
This research informs aquafeed formulation, offering feed manufacturers and tilapia producers evidence that corn oil or linseed oil can replace marine fish oil during colder seasons. It represents applied, experimental dietary testing: moving it towards commercial use requires full-scale farm trials to assess cost-effectiveness, fillet quality, and long-term economic viability across different production systems.
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The optimum water temperature required for the normal growth of Nile tilapia is 25–30°C. In this study, tilapia was reared under suboptimal temperature (21.50 ± 1.50°C) and fed four diets with fish oil (FO), corn oil (CO), sunflower oil (SFO) and linseed oil (LnO) for 8 weeks. The results revealed improved final weight, average daily gain and intestinal amylase activity in the LnO group compared to FO and SFO groups (p < .05). The feed intake was increased significantly in FO and LnO groups compared to CO and SFO groups, while the feed conversion ratio was increased in the FO group (p < .05). The CO, SFO and LnO diets resulted in higher carcass lipids than fish fed FO, while CO decreased the ash content (p < .05). The growth hormone was significantly lowered by LnO, followed by SFO, while CO improved the serum alkaline phosphatase activity (p < .05). Glutathione peroxidase enhanced in fish fed SFO, while the lowest activities were recorded in fish fed FO (p < .05). Total superoxide dismutase was significantly elevated by CO and LnO when compared with fish fed FO and SFO (p < .05). Substituting FO with vegetable oils had normal intestinal and liver histological appearance. It could be concluded that substituting FO with either CO or LnO for Nile tilapia could maintain the normal growth performance and feed utilization with enhanced antioxidant capacity under suboptimal temperature.
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DOI: 10.1111/anu.13072
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