Inclusão de Single Cell Protein em dietas para peixes: uma avaliação sobre a palatabilidade

Abstract

Alternative foods to replace fishmeal have been constantly studied because it is a resource that is stagnant while the demand is increasing more and more. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the palatability of Single cell protein at different inclusion levels (3,6,9 and 12%) together with the control diet offered during five days to Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and betta (Betta splendens) juveniles twice a day, at 10 am and 2 pm. After each feeding period, the fish were filmed for 5 min each, in order to obtain the parameters of relative capture efficiency (RCE), relative ingestion (ING), relative pellet rejection (RDP), relative time to initial consumption (TCI) and relative time to total consumption (TCT), and the palatability index (PI). For tilapia no significant effects were found between treatments, however, the diets with 3 and 6%SCP were shown to be more palatable. While for betta the diet with the best results was the one with 12% SCP. Therefore, the authors recommend the inclusion of 6% Single cell protein for Nile tilapia and 12% for betta fish.