Growth, digestibility and resistance to pathogen infection in Nile tilapia fed with probiotics

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with probiotics Lactobacillus plantarum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the performance, resistance to pathogen infection and digestibility in Nile tilapia fingerlings. Three trials were performed. In the first one, six groups of 30 fingerlings (2.4±0.5 g) received supplementation with probiotics during 55 days, and other three groups received no supplementation. At the end of this period, in the second trial, fish were challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila, and survival was assessed over 96 hours. In the third trial, with eight fish per tank (230,0±10,0 g), diet digestibility after the probiotic supplementation was evaluated. Supplementation with probiotics significantly improves weight gain, feed conversion, and protein and energy retention rates, as well as the resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila after infection. Supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the diet of Nile tilapia significantly improves the digestibility of protein, energy, and dry matter.