Automatic feeders for Nile tilapia raised in cages: productive performance at high feeding frequencies and different rates

Abstract

The main goal of modern intensive fish farms should be to increase productivity at a low cost. The automation of fish feeding plays an important role in this scenario since it may improve feed efficiency and reduce organic waste emissions. The aim of this experiment was to provide basic information for the development of feeding techniques using automatic feeders. The experiment was done from September to December, with tilapia weighing 185g, fed 48 meals a day at 22 or 30 minute intervals, with feeding rates of 2, 3 and 4% of live weight. Eighteen 1m 3 net cages equipped with automatic feeders were distributed in one pond. During the experimental trial the mean values for dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature were 3.20mg/l, 8.03 and 25.43°C, respectively. The highest average weight of 683.73g was achieved for fish treated with 4% of live weight at 30 minute intervals between meals. There was no difference for viscero-somatic index, demonstrating no alteration in the final carcass quality. These results demonstrate that a higher feeding rate added to efficient feed management can be used at the final stages of raising Nile tilapia in cages without compromising final fish productive quality.

AVALIAÇÃO DO DESEMPENHO DE ALEVINOS DE Oreochromis niloticus (LINNAEUS, 1758) SUBMETIDOS A DIETA FRACIONADA

“…Sousa et al (2012), em seu estudo com juvenis de tilápias em tanquesrede, verificaram que o melhor desempenho produtivo ocorreu quando alevinos eram alimentados a cada hora em comparação a alimentação de duas em duas horas. Oliveira et al (2016), também com alevinos de tilápia, utilizando alimentação automatizada, verificaram que ração oferecida diariamente em alta frequência (48 refeições ao dia), a taxa de 4% do peso vivo proporcionou melhor ganho de peso em relação aos tratamentos com taxas de 2% e 3% do peso vivo, aumentando assim a frequência de alimentação sem desperdícios. Para Martineli (2017), que testou três frequências alimentares em tilápias da linhagem Supreme, sendo 2, 4 e 24 refeições/ dia, com alimentador automatizado, observou que os maiores valores de peso médio final e ganho médio de peso foram encontrados no tratamento de 24 refeições/dia.…”

Polyculture of bullfrog tadpoles and Nile tilapia fry

“…Tilapia farmed in hapas showed feed conversion ratios ranging from 1.67 to 1.96 g/g when fed with feed dispensers (Oliveira et al 2016) and from 1.03 to 1.17 g/g in conventional systems with live feed (Calvalcante et al 2017). Therefore, the 1.78 g/g found in this study for the tilapia indicates that, when compared with the literature descriptions, the polyculture system favored the tadpoles, without, however, impairing fish growth.…”

Impacto del uso de herramientas tecnológicas en la producción acuícola

“…Uno de los procesos fundamentales en la acuicultura es la alimentación, siendo vital para lograr el engorde y la salud optima del pez (Bonilla-Castillo et al, 2018;Contreras et al, 2018). La deficiente alimentación causa enfermedades y cuyo efecto repercutirá en la rentabilidad de la producción (Constanza et al, 2020;Oliveira et al, 2016;Victoriano et al, 2017).…”