Exogenous enzymes on the feeding of pirarucu Arapaima gigas Schinz. 1822 (Osteoglossiformes. Arapaimidae)

Abstract

The objective of this work was to verify the effect of exogenous digestive enzymes protease, lipase and amylase on the feeding of pirarucu. In a completely randomized design, we tested three levels of inclusion for both exogenous enzymes against a control commercial feed lacking any enzymatic enrichment. Inclusion levels were as follows: (Control) = no enzymes; (T1) = 0.1% Amylase; (T2) = 0.2% Amylase; (T3) = 0.4% Amylase; (T4) = Protease 0.1%; (T5) = Protease 0.2%; (T6) = Protease 0.4%; (T7) = Lipase 0.1%; (T8) = Lipase 0.2%; (T9) = Lipase 0.4% . After the end of the experiment it was possible to find a significant difference (p < 0.05) in relation to the Control treatment only in the zootechnical data of the treatments that added protease and lipase to the pirarucu feed (T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9). The use of exogenous digestive enzyme protease and lipase are indicating on the pirarucu feeding, as it positively influences its growth.