NUTRIÇÃO DE PEIXES REDONDOS: Piaractus sp.

Abstract

Fish farming in Brazil has been consolidated as a profitable and promising activity, because it requires small areas and has low production costs, besides the country having a great hydrographic potential containing twelve watersheds and a great diversity of species. The costs of feeding fish correspond to at least 50% of the total production cost, and in intensive systems can reach 70%. Among the barriers of fish nutrition is the relationship of protein:energy ratio to nutrition of native species and hybrids. As protein is one of the most expensive nutrient in the diet, it is important to determine the minimum concentration of this nutrient, however the optimization of it is correlated with the inclusion of energy sources such as carbohydrates and lipids, in adequate amounts in order to promote the protein-sparing effect. In this case, it proposed to discuss the light of knowledge using the available literature in order to elucidate levels and managements on the nutrition of fish of the genus Piaractus sp. and their hybrids.