Effect of protein level on the zootechnical and economic performance of Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus 1758) case of the local strain and GIFT raised in hapas in Kalemie, DR Congo

Résumé

The present study aims to evaluate the performance of local Tilapia against the GIFT strain, above all, to determine the protein content in the food which is both economically profitable and favors obtaining better weight gain. A batch of 240 fry including 120 of the local strain and 120 others of the GIFT strain, with an initial average weight of 9.88±1.73 g and 10.10±2.31 g respectively for the local strain and GIFT, was subjected to three types of foods different in their protein content: AL1 (35% protein), AL2 (37.5% protein) and AL3 (40% protein). The experiment was carried out using a factorial design with two levels and three repetitions (2x3 factorial). The results show that after 35 days of experimentation, the average daily weight gain is 1.23±0.11 g/d for the GIFT strain and 1.20±0.09 g/d for the local strain. The food (AL3), containing 40% protein, had a high value of 1.21±0.09 g/d. The feed cost per kg of growth shows that the GIFT strain gave a lower value of 2214.40±196.83 CDF and the feed containing 37.5% protein gave a value of 2192.59±189.43 CDF. In fish farms, it is preferable to use fry of the GIFT strain and in the extreme case the use of the local strain with a food containing 37.5% protein because this leads to obtaining good weight growth of tilapia fry while minimizing the production cost per kg of fish. Keywords: Tilapia strain, Oreochromis niloticus, protein level, zootechnical and economic performance Kalemie.