Effect of dietary betaine levels on growth performance and hepatic intermediary metabolism of GIFT strain of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus reared in freshwater

Abstract

An 8‐week feeding experiment was conducted to determine the effect of dietary betaine levels on the growth performance and hepatic intermediary metabolism of genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) strain of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (mean initial body weight: 78.3 ± 1.3 g, means ± SD). Six practical diets were formulated with the incorporation of betaine at the levels of 0 (control), 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 g kg−1. Survival showed no significant differences among the treatments (P > 0.05). The highest and lowest weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) were observed for fish fed the diets containing 5 and 0 g kg−1 (control) betaine, respectively. Feed intake showed similar trend with WG and SGR. In contrast, feed conversion ratio was the lowest when dietary betaine level was 5 g kg−1. In general, dietary betaine supplementation showed no significant effect on hepatic composition of tilapia. Condition factor and viscerosomatic index tended to increase with increasing dietary betaine levels from 0 to 5 g kg−1 and then decline when dietary betaine levels further increased from 5 to 25 g kg−1. In contrast, hepatosomatic index declined with increasing dietary betaine levels (P < 0.05). Dietary betaine levels significantly influenced several hepatic enzymatic activities, including succinate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase, malic dehydrogenase, lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase, suggesting that dietary betaine addition had significant effects on nutrient metabolism in the liver. Based on the second‐order polynomial regression analysis of WG, 12.5 g kg−1 of dietary betaine level seemed optimal for genetically improved farmed tilapia strain of O. niloticus.

Effects of dietary betaine in allogynogenetic gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio): Enhanced growth, reduced lipid deposition and depressed lipogenic gene expression

“…In this study, significantly higher FBW and SGR were observed in allogynogenetic gibel carp fed the diet containing 0.4% betaine than in the control group (p < .05). Similar results have also been delivered in gibel carp and Nile tilapia, in which 0.5% betaine supplementation showed growth-and feeding-enhancing effects (Luo, Tan, Liu, & Wen, 2011;Xue & Cui, 2001). In addition, 2% dietary betaine resulted in none growthenhancing effect compared to the control group in the present study, which is similar to the finding in blue tilapia that betaine sup- T A B L E 2 Growth performance and feed utilization of the experimental diets (means AE SEM)* and feed utilization in both fresh and sea water conditions (Genc, Tekelioglu, Yilmaz, Hunt, & Yanar, 2006).…”

“…To date, however, little information is available on the effects of dietary betaine on lipid accumulation in fish. In tilapia, betaine supplementation in the diet significantly increased growth performance, but showed no significant effect on liver composition (Luo et al., ). In the present study, lipid content in the hepatopancreas, muscle and the whole body was significantly reduced by dietary betaine addition in VB 0.4 group, while no significant difference was detected in VB 0.08 and VB 2 groups.…”

“…To date, however, little information is available on the effects of dietary betaine on lipid accumulation in fish. In tilapia, betaine supplementation in the diet significantly increased growth performance, but showed no significant effect on liver composition (Luo et al, 2011).…”

Effect of partial replacement of dietary fish meal by soybean meal with betaine attractant supplementation on growth performance and fatty acid profiles of juvenile rainbow trout (O ncorhynchus mykiss )

“…Genç and Tekelioğlu () reported best WG in juvenile sea bass ( Dicentrarchus labrax ) for 2% L‐glutamic acid‐supplemented group (62.17 ± 1.26 g) followed by 2% betaine‐supplemented group (54.41 ± 1.55 g). Luo, Tan, Liu, and Wen () reported the best live gain in the Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) for 0.05% betaine‐supplemented group (150.6 ± 2.7 g), whereas the weight gain was 111.3 ± 3.6 g in control group. Shankar, Murthy, Pavadi, and Thanuja () conducted a study with fingerlings of Rohu fish and reported WGs of 20.4 g and 16.5 g for the 0.25% betaine‐supplemented and the control groups respectively.…”

Different preference is modulated by the feeding stimulants supplementation in different Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis ) basic diets

“…According to previous studies, the most recognized feed stimulatory effectors include amino acids, betaine, 2‐carboxy‐ethyl dimethyl sulphonium bromide (DMPT), nucleotides and nucleosides, and some mixtures (such as squid extract, fish soluble and krill meal) (Nakajima, Uchida, & Ishida, ; NRC, ). Their beneficial effects to aquaculture species, such as the enhancement of feed intake and improvement of growth performance, are now widely recognized in many aquatic species (Li & Gatlin, ; Luo, Tan, Liu, & Wen, ; Suresh, Kumaraguru Vasagam, & Nates, ; Whirley & Einat, ). However, the aforementioned studies usually focused on fish and shellfish, and literatures concerning the investigation of diet preference by reptile are quite limited.…”