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Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

DOI

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Abstract

Small (57.56 ± 0.03 g) and large (172.46 ± 1.14 g) Nile tilapia fingerlings (Oreochromis niloticus) were stocked in six 0.15 ha partitioned aquaculture system (PAS) units on May 1 1997 at a rate of 100 kg/0.15 ha (low density) and 200 kg/0.15 ha (high density) in triplicate to determine the growth rates and production characteristics and the changes in fatty acid profiles of the fish. The primary food source for the 152-day rearing period available to the fish confined within the raceway sections was planktonic algae and to a lesser extent zooplankton and possibly drifting invertebrates. At harvest the mean net production was 2.017 ± 212.4 kg/ha for the high density and 2.298 ± 178.9 kg/ha for the low density treatment. The average weight (g) of the small tilapia was significantly larger in the low density treatment. Total fat content decreased from 11.6% to 6.2% in the large fish and from 8.6% to 6.2% in the small fish and fatty acid profiles changed in the fish flesh during the study. The percentage of both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids increased over the sampling months. The ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids also increased from 0.35 to 0.56 in the large fish and from 0.44 to 0.60 in the small fish during the study.

Keywords

Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, fatty acids, partitioned aquaculture system (PAS), stocking rate

First Page

211

Last Page

217

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