Short-term Cycles of Feed Deprivation and Refeeding on Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, and Fillet Composition of Hybrid Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus x O. niloticus)

This study was designed to determine the effect of short- term starvation and refeeding cycles on growth performance, feed utilization, and muscle composition of hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus x O. niloticus). A total of 360 juveniles (5.53. +/- 0.38g) were randomly divided into 12 tanks in triplicate groups. The control group (C) was fed three times a day to satiation. The feeding regimes of the other groups were designed as follows: 2 days deprivation / 2 days refeeding (2DD2DRF), 2 days deprivation / 3 days refeeding (2DD3DRF), and 2 days deprivation / 4 days refeeding (2DD4DRF). Fish in 2DD4DRF group presented complete compensatory growth; no significant difference was observed in growth performance parameters compared to C. Hepatosomatic index, viscerosomatic index, and condition factor was not affected by these feeding regimes. Moreover, better feed conversion ratio, feed efficiency ratio, and protein efficiency ratio values were observed in feed deprived fish, with the best parameters observed in fish under 2DD4DRF feeding regime. Meanwhile, muscle crude protein and lipid content in 2DD2DRF and 2DD3DRF was significantly lower compared to C and 2DD4DRF group.