ALTERNATIVE TO EXPENSIVE FEEDS

BINMALEY–Bangus are good for growing tilapia. Bangus bones, that is.

A study made by a group from the College of Fisheries here of the  Pangasinan State University (PSU) showed  that  tilapia fed with a mixture of 75% formulated diet and 20%-25%  bangus bones and spines has a comparably better survival and growth rate.

The study, undertaken jointly by Dan Clark Rosario, May Ann Catabay and Efren Soy with Dr. Rosie Abalos as adviser, won first prize in the PSU Research and Development Symposium this year.

Abalos said the study is significant not just to tilapia farmers but also to those involved in the popular deboned bangus businesses.

“Now that deboned bangus is gaining popularity for domestic and export use, refuse like the bones and spines that are rich in protein can be collected from bangus deboning outlets for use as feed ingredients,” the student proponents said.

Initial analysis showed that bangus bones and spines when boiled and pulverized contain 34.5% crude protein, 25.7% crude fat, 28.6% ash and 5.6% moisture.

The study found out fish given feeds with the different experimental diet exhibited very high survival rates.

In terms of feed conversion ratio, experimental diets with mixtures of bangus bones and spines resulted in a kilogram gain for each tilapia.

The introduction of experimental feeds for tilapia in ponds did not affect the quality of the pond water.

The study highlights that fish and fishery products are the most important protein source among Filipinos, with a per capita income consumption of 36 kilogram/year compared to 12 kg/year of meat and five kg/year of poultry.

Aquaculture, particularly for tilapia, is one of the fast growing and promising industries in the country.

The formulated diets were submitted to the Bureau of Animal Industry for proximate analysis of nutrients. The study was conducted at  the National Integrated Fisheries technology Development Center in Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City for 62 days from Oct. 15 to Dec.16,2006 using 360 peso-coin size Molobicus Saline Tilapia  fingerlings. #

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