Probiotics in Brackish Water

To study the effect of Lactobacillus sporogenes (Probiotics) on growth performance of Oreochromis niloticus, four diets containing varying concentration (0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0g 100 g-1 of diet) of probiotics were formulated. A diet without supplementation of probiotics was also formulated which served as control diet. All diets contained about 40% of crude protein. Significantly highest growth performance, carcass protein, apparent protein digestibility, nutrient retention (PER, GPR, GER and APD), digestive enzyme activity were observed in the group fed diet containing probiotics at a concentration of 0.75 g, 100 g-1 of diet. Excretion of metabolites remained low, while the values of VSI and HSI remained high at this treatment. Muscle glycogen and liver glycogen were also low, while the values of muscle protein were high in fish fed diet-3 containing probiotics at a concentration of 0.75g, 100g-1 of diet. These studies indicate that supplementation of diets with appropriate concentration of probiotics can be a useful tool in the utilization of supplementary diets in aquaculture.