Malays. Appl. Biol. (2020) 49(1): 183–192
GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND POST-HARVEST QUALITY
OF GIFT TILAPIA REARED IN TWO DIFFERENT
CULTURE SYSTEMS
FARAH FARHANIM MOHD ZIN, NAJAMUDDIN ABDUL BASRI, SUJJAT AL-AZAD,
SALEEM MUSTAFA and ROSSITA SHAPAWI*
Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
*E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accepted 2 May 2020, Published online 30 June 2020
ABSTRACT
The growth performance, feed utilization, sensory evaluation, proximate and fatty acid composition of Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) reared in different aquaculture systems (tank and cage culture in pond) were examined in a 126-day feeding trial. Throughout the feeding trial, fish were fed commercial tilapia feed twice a day at 3% of their body weight. Significantly higher final body weight, weight gain, daily growth rate, viscerosomatic and hepatosomatic indices were yielded in GIFT tilapia cultured in pond than in tank. In contrast, GIFT tilapia cultured in tank showed significantly higher survival rate than GIFT tilapia cultured in pond. Higher positive scores of sensory evaluation test were observed in both treatments, indicating the good acceptance of consumers towards GIFT tilapia. Meanwhile, higher contents of 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 of GIFT tilapia fillets from tank culture system than those cultured in cage were mainly influenced by significantly different size of fish and maturity factor during harvest. In general, it can be concluded that the performance of GIFT tilapia reared in pond culture system was better than those in tank culture system with benefits of early harvest and faster growth rate. On the other hand, tank culture system also has its own advantages in terms of higher survival rate and better fatty acid profile.
Key words: Aquaculture systems, freshwater fish, GIFT, tilapia, growth performance, sensory quality
