July | August 2011 Feature title: Colombian Tilapia - Increased fry survivability with Orego-Stim

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F: Survivability
Table 1: Tilapia production in Latin American nations

F: Survivability
Table 2: Daily feeding allowances of Tilapia at 28oC

Country

2006 MT

2007 MT

2008 MT

Area Sq Km

2008 Prod. Per Sq Km (kg)

11 24 414 74 183

Size
2 days old to 1g 1-5 g 5-20 g 20-100 g >100 g

Feeding Allowance (% fish weight)

30-10 10-6 6-4 4-3 3

Times fed daily

8 6 4 3-4 3

Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador Honduras Source: FAO

71,253 23,146 13,456 19,368 28,400

95,091 27,324 19,763 20,000 28,356

96,000 27,300 21,180 21,000 20,494

8,514,877 1,138,914 51,100 283,561 112,090

Source: Nutrient Requirements of Fish, NRC, 1993

Colombian Tilapia
Increased fry survivability with Orego-Stim
by Matt Pearce, Meriden Animal Health Limited
olombian Tilapia production takes full advantage of natural freshwater lakes and reservoirs with constant annual water temperatures in the mid twenties. Such environments provide ideal conditions for Tilapia aquaculture. Colombia is also one of the wettest regions of the world with some parts of the country receiving over seven metres of rainfall per year. As shown in table 1, Colombia is not only a significant producer of tilapia, but with plentiful land mass and water has fur ther potential for expansion of their aquaculture industry into the future.

down the tough cell walls of algae enabling an additional source of nutrition, especially in juveniles. Blue-green filamentous and planktonic algae which grow rapidly in Colombian water bodies can also be an excellent supplementar y source of protein in young tilapia. The time interval between feeding juvenile tilapia is ver y impor tant. The ideal time interval between feeding for optimal feed digestion is about four hours during daylight hours. Compound extruded aquaculture feeds should be nutritionally balanced with a good amino acid profile and protein levels around 45 percent for young fish. The correct quantity of feed relative to water volume or stocking density and the optimum physical size of feeds should also be used.

There are two major ways in which detrimental damage to tilapia operational productivity and aquaculture earnings can be done. First, high mortality in juveniles can necessitate either over-compensatory stocking or re-stocking of juvenile fish or second, feed conversion and disease challenges in larger market sized fish can compromise final harvest weights and yields. Both of these are preferably to be avoided, but disease incidents have and remain to be the greatest constraints to profitable aquaculture production.

Trial parameters
One of Colombias largest commercial aquaculture feed companies supplied a 45 percent b a l a n c e d protein tilapia diet for the trial. The exper imental group used OregoStim Aquatract powder at 500g/tonne and the control group used standard feed with no additives. The trial period covered the first three weeks of life on commercial diets between July and August 2010 at a commercial tilapia farm at Neiva, Colombia. The first two trials used red

tilapia fry and another trial used black tilapia fry. All juvenile fish were between two and seven gr ams aver age weight and t h e r e w a s b e t we e n 4 0 0 a n d 7 0 0 k g of biomass for each tr ial. Wa t e r c h e m i s t r y p a r a m eter s were: Dissolved oxygen 5ppm, water temper ature 24 deg C , pH7, d i s s o l ve d a m m o n i a 1 p p m , A l k a l i n i t y 136ppm and total water hardness 140ppm. During the cour se of the trial the daily number of fish mor talities was recorded, feed cost, Orego-Stim

Immune challenges
Juvenile tilapia have a range of stressors which confront them in aquaculture systems and test vulnerable biological defence mechanisms centred on their developing immune systems. Some of these stressors are physio-chemical parameters affected by water quality. Other stressors act directly on or via the gastrointestinal tract. In addition to the consumption of formulated feeds, tilapia consume a range of natural feed items including plankton, aquatic macrophytes, benthic and planktonic aquatic invertebrates, larval fish, detritus, and decomposing organic matter. These natural feed items provide extra nutrition, but can also be vectors of transmission of unwanted parasites, bacterial or fungal infection which can be of detriment to aquaculture operations.

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Culture conditions
The grow-out phase of Colombian tilapia production often occurs in lakes and reservoirs. A significant advantage of tilapia cage culture

is that there is a disruption in the reproductive lifecycle as any eggs (fertilised or unfertilised) drop through the floor of the cage. This helps to maintain more uniform sized fish within cages throughout the duration of the growout. Bacterial infections from Streptococcus are a significant cause of reduced productivity and can cause total average mortality between 30-40 percent. Annual yields with typical stocking densities of 200-400 fish/m3 can be in the range of 80-120kg/ m3. J u ve n i l e rearing of tilapia is much m o r e dependent
14 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2011

on feed quality and quantity as well as fish farming husbandry. Being an omnivorous fish, tilapia have longer intestines than salmonid species (about six times their body length). The morphology of their stomach and gut is also different. If the stomach is full, additional consumed feed will bypass the stomach and be partially undigested. The low pH of 2 in the stomach breaks

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This transitional period in the aquaculture lifecycle beyond being alevins but before fish have developed full immunological competency is one where there is the potential for the highest rates of mortality and greatest losses in profitability.

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July-August 2011 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 15

F: Survivability
of the production cycles. Orego-Stim Aquatract Powder will be of interest to end users at farm level, as this specific formula is for use not within a feed but as a p ow d e r t o b e coated onto feed pellets at the time of feeding. OregoStim is a unique 100 percent natural feed additive/ flavour. These unique essential oils contain natural phenolic compounds which h av e b e n e f i c i a l proper ties for fish and shr imp aquaculture. Tr ials have proven that Orego-Stim Aquatract can provide many benefits for ultimate productivity and animal health, leading to better profits and a higher return on investment for the aquaculture producer.

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cost and fr y cost enabled calculation of return on investment.

Conclusion

In all three trials there was a huge reduction in mortality by 28 percent, 20 percent and 51 percent respectively Table 3: Biometric parameters of the trial in the Orego-Stim groups after the end of the first Orego-Stim Control Trial 1 - 3rd August 2010 three weeks. These cost savings Number of Fry 200,000 100,000 provided a high return on Average weight (g) 2 7 investment of six, 16 and 32 Average Biomass (kg) 400 700 times the cost of OregoStim during the initial phase of the production lifeOrego-Stim Control Trial 2 - 17th August 2010 cycle. Fry are one of the most Number of Fry 150,000 150,000 vulnerable stages of the proAverage weight (g) 1.5 1.5 duction lifecycle, so reducing mortality early can increase Average Biomass (kg) 225 225 production of harvest sized fish a few months later, Orego-Stim Control Trial 3 - 17th August 2010 resulting in even more return on investment for the Number of Fry 150,000 150,000 Tilapia farmer! In these par ticular trials Average weight (g) 2 2 these future savings are likely Average Biomass (kg) 300 300 to account for a saving of a quarter, a fifth and a half of total expected final harvest weights in each Note: Sincere thanks to Dr Alfonso Diaz, of the respective trials, in the event that early Comervet SA (aldiaz@comervet.com) for the mortalities are not replenished or that there collaboration and collection of the trial data from Colombian Tilapia farmers described in this article. are no more serious losses in the remainder

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