The Availability to Tilapia nilotica of Phosphorus in White Fish Meal

Abstract

The availability for Tilapia nilotica of phosphorus contained in white fish meal was determined by feeding fish meal diets containing different levels of phosphorus. The availability of dietary phosphorus was evaluated by the growth rate of fish, chemical analyses of the whole bodies and bones, gross appearance of the bones and apparent absorption of dietary phosphorus from the digestive tract. The results demonstrated that the availability for Tilapia of the phosphorus contained in the fish meal was around 65%, comparable to those in rainbow trout and chum salmon. Thus the supplementation of the diets containing this fish meal with primary sodium phosphate resulted in no acceleration of the growth response of Tilapia. The requirement of phosphorus for the maximum growth and the normal bone mineralization is postulated to be less than 0.9% in diet. © 1980, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.