Effects of polyphenols from sugarcane on the growth performances of farmed tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

This experiment introduces a natural bioactive additive from sugarcane (Saccharum
officinarium), the richest source of phenolic compounds having the potential to replace some of
the functions of feed additives. The experiment was conducted in the net cage where tilapia
(Oreochromis niloticus) were stocked at 80 fish per cage and subjected to four treatments with
four replications. A commercial polyphenol named ‘polygain’ from sugarcane was included at
0% (T0), 0.2% (T1), 0.4% (T2), and 0.6% (T3) in four diets. During stocking, initial weight and
length of fishes were 2.24g and 3.21cm respectively. Final sampling showed that average weight
of each treatment such as T0, T1, T2 and T3 were 86.64±7.0g, 93.3±7.4g, 108.71±14.0 g and
89.78±10.8g respectively. Average length of fish was higher in T2 (18.25 cm) than the T0 (17.34
cm), T1 (18cm) and T3 (18.13cm). Among four treatments, T2 showed lower FCR value (1.59)
than the control (2.0). The outcome of the study indicated that the addition of polyphenol in
tilapia diet can improve growth performance.