article · Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Using agricultural by-products in aquaculture feed presents an opportunity to support sustainable fish farming. Research on Nile tilapia fingerlings examined the impact of adding pineapple waste to fish diets across a fifty-six-day feeding trial. Diets contained thirty-two percent protein and incorporated varying levels of pineapple waste at zero, ten, twenty, and thirty percent. Fingerlings fed the pineapple waste formulations achieved better growth performance, including higher weight gain, weight gain percentage, and specific growth rate, than those on the control diet. Among the tested groups, fish fed the thirty percent pineapple waste formulation achieved the highest growth metrics. The dietary inclusion of pineapple waste did not alter fillet texture quality, although it did create a measurable difference in flesh red chromaticity. Overall, pineapple waste can be included in Nile tilapia feed at up to thirty percent of the formulation to enhance growth rates.
Aquaculture feeds represent a major operational cost for fish farmers. Demonstrating that agricultural by-products such as pineapple waste can partially replace conventional feed components without harming meat texture provides a pathway to lower feed expenses and repurpose organic waste. This offers fish producers practical evidence for improving fingerling growth while adopting more circular practices in feed production.
This research demonstrates an applied, tested dietary formulation for aquafeed manufacturers and commercial tilapia producers. By validating that pineapple processing residues can constitute up to thirty percent of fingerling feed, the findings could enable feed mills to reduce dependency on standard raw materials. The technology is in the applied feeding trial stage, requiring pilot-scale manufacturing and commercial pond validation before broader market deployment.
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The study aims to evaluate the effects of pineapples waste on the growth, texture quality and flesh colour of Nile tilapia (<i>Oreochromis niloticus</i>) fingerlings. Fingerlings were fed with four different levels of pineapple waste diets throughout 56 days, which contain a control group (Diet 1) and experimental diets that formulated with 10% (Diet 2), 20% (Diet 3) and 30% (Diet 4) of pineapple waste. The experimental diet was formulated with rice bran, fish meal, soybean meal, vitamin and mineral premix, vegetable oil and binder to attain 32% dietary protein. The results revealed that the formulated fish diet with pineapple waste given the optimum weight gain, weight gain percentage, specific growth rate than the control group, where Diet 4 has shown the highest value (p < 0.05). There were no effects of the pineapple waste diet on the texture quality of the fillet, while only red chromaticity (a*) showed a significant difference (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of pineapple waste can improve the growth rate of Nile tilapia, and the supplementation level of the pineapple waste in the diet was 30% of the total feed formulation.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.12.027
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