Effects of dietary fish oil replacement by unrefined peanut oil on the growth, serum biochemical and hematological parameters of Mozambique tilapia juveniles (Oreochromis mossambicus)

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the effects of partial or total replacement of fish oil (FO) with unrefined peanut oil (PO) on growth and some physiological parameters of Mozambique tilapia juveniles for 60 days. Three triplicate groups (initial weight 6.36±0.19 g) were fed with isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets in which FO was replaced with PO in graded increments of 50% (PO0, PO50, PO100). The results showed that weight gain and feed efficiency of fish fed with PO50 diet were statistically higher than in the other two groups (P<0.05). No significant effects were observed on whole body proximate composition of fish fed with the experimental diets (P>0.05). The partial or total replacement of FO with PO did not affect on the hematological and immunological parameters of fish. Serum glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride were lower in fish fed with PO50 diet (P<0.05). The present study revealed that PO can be used as an alternate source of dietary lipid up to 50% in tilapia feeds without adverse effects on growth performance, hemato-immunological and serum biochemical parameters