Performance and amylase activity in Nile tilapia submitted to different temperatures

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance and amylase activity in chime of Nile tilapia male, Thai line, submitted to four different temperatures. The experimental design was completely randomized with four treatments (20, 24, 28 and 32^oC), six replicates and ten fishes per experimental unit. The diet was the same for all treatments. At 55 days of experiment, apparent feed intake, weight gain, apparent feed conversion, amylase activity and specific amylase activity were evaluated. The apparent feed intake and weight gain increased linearly with temperature increase. For apparent feed conversion, quadratic effect was observed as a function of temperature, showing a conversion improvement of 1.79 to 1.00 with the increase of the temperature until 29,15^oC. Linear effect in amylase activity and specific amylase activity was observed as a result of temperature, comprising high amylase activity and low specific amylase activity at 32^oC. Water temperature influences the performance and amylase activity in Nile tilapia.