During phase 2, the best results were obtained by supplementing the
        
        
          control feed throughout the production cycle with 3 kg/MT of the feed
        
        
          additive (treatment AG3); resulting in a significantly better final weight
        
        
          and reduced amount of feed consumption at the end of the cycle (Table 2).
        
        
          Relatively compared to the control group, treatment AG3 showed improved
        
        
          survival (+2.8%), daily weight gain (+5%), feed conversion (-6.4%), fileting
        
        
          yield (+1.5%), visceral fat deposition (-9.9%), hepatosomatic index (-22%),
        
        
          and viscerosomatic index (-10.7%). Reducing the additive inclusion from 3
        
        
          to 1.5 kg/MT during phase 2, still resulted in interesting benefits on growth,
        
        
          feed conversion and visceral fat but did not affect fileting yield.
        
        
          
            Table 2: Fish performance and processing parameters (fileting yield, visceral fat,
          
        
        
          
            hepatosomatic index HSI, viscerosomatic index VSI) of Nile tilapia (from approx.
          
        
        
          
            170 g to commercial size) fed different diets during phase 2
          
        
        
          Control
        
        
          Control +
        
        
          aquagest OMF
        
        
          3 kg
        
        
          Control +
        
        
          aquagest OMF
        
        
          3-1.5 kg
        
        
          lc Feed +
        
        
          aquagest OMF
        
        
          2 kg
        
        
          Fish performance
        
        
          Survival (%)
        
        
          92.1
        
        
          ab 94.7
        
        
          a
        
        
          93.0 a
        
        
          85.6
        
        
          b
        
        
          Initial weight (g)
        
        
          166.9
        
        
          177.4
        
        
          166.7
        
        
          160.8 n.s.
        
        
          Final weight (g)
        
        
          714.2 b
        
        
          751.1
        
        
          a
        
        
          730.1
        
        
          ab
        
        
          739.2
        
        
          ab
        
        
          Growth (g/day)
        
        
          4.93
        
        
          5.17
        
        
          5.08
        
        
          5.21
        
        
          n.s.
        
        
          Feed Intake (kg/cage)
        
        
          676.6 b
        
        
          644.5 a 655.25 ab
        
        
          662
        
        
          ab
        
        
          FI as (%ABW/d)
        
        
          3.09 ab 2.91
        
        
          a
        
        
          2.93 a
        
        
          3.18
        
        
          b
        
        
          FCR
        
        
          1.72
        
        
          ab
        
        
          1.61
        
        
          a
        
        
          1.63 a
        
        
          1.77
        
        
          b
        
        
          Processing parameters
        
        
          Fileting yield (%)
        
        
          33.4 a
        
        
          33.9 a
        
        
          33.3 a
        
        
          31.5
        
        
          b
        
        
          Visceral Fat (%)
        
        
          4.76
        
        
          4.29
        
        
          4.17
        
        
          5.00 n.s.
        
        
          HSI (%)
        
        
          1.07
        
        
          0.83
        
        
          0.96
        
        
          0.84
        
        
          n.s.
        
        
          VSI (%)
        
        
          8.84
        
        
          7.89
        
        
          8.18
        
        
          8.67
        
        
          n.s.
        
        
          Different letters indicate significant differences (p<0.05, Sampaio-Gonçalves et al., 2012)
        
        
          
            Figure 4: Daily weight
          
        
        
          
            gain and feed conver-
          
        
        
          
            sion of juvenile Nile
          
        
        
          
            tilapia during phase
          
        
        
          
            1 (from 28 to approx.
          
        
        
          
            170 g) fed the control
          
        
        
          
            diet with or without
          
        
        
          
            the supplementa-
          
        
        
          
            tion of a digestibility
          
        
        
          
            enhancing additive.
          
        
        
          
            * indicate significant
          
        
        
          
            differences (p<0.05)
          
        
        
          
            and deviations from
          
        
        
          
            control are shown as
          
        
        
          
            percentages in red
          
        
        
          
            (Sampaio-Gonçalves et
          
        
        
          
            al., 2012)
          
        
        
          digestibility enhancing additive. * indicate significant differences (P<0.05) and
        
        
          deviations from control are shown as percentages in red (Sampaio Gonçalves et al.,
        
        
          2012
        
        
          ).
        
        
          Innovative approaches to reduce feed cost in aquaculture: optimizing nutrient utilization and gut health
        
        
          33