DESEMPENHO ZOOTÉCNICO, IMUNOLOGIA, PARÂMETROS HISTOLÓGICOS E MICROBIOTA INTESTINAL DE Oreochromis niloticus ALIMENTADAS COM FARELO DE GLÚTEN DE MILHO COM LEVEDURA

Abstract

The present work was carried out with the objective of evaluating the inclusion of FlexyPro® (corn gluten meal with yeast) in tilapia feeding. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with four treatments and four replications, the experimental plot being a 500 L box with eight tilapias with an average initial weight of 20 grams. The experiment was carried out in a recirculation system, consisting of a 3,000 L decanter, 3,000 L biofilter, pump (16,000 L/hour), pool heater and 16 500 L boxes. The inclusion effect of 25, 50 and 75% of FlexyPro® as a source of protein in the tilapia diet and the control treatment (without inclusion) were evaluated. It was found that the inclusions of 25 (FP-25) and 50% (FP-50) showed greater gains in weight, final weights, feed intake and fillet weight than the control treatment, not differing in relation to feed conversion and fillet yield. The inclusion of FlexyPro® resulted in quadratic increases in final body weight, weight gain, feed consumption and fillet weight up to 37.10, 36.67, 39.11 and 35.36%, respectively, corresponding to 608.31; 549.91; 725.32 and 227.28 grams. It was observed that the fish weight as a function of experimental days increased linearly for all treatments, with higher values for treatments with FP-25 and FP-50. It can be verified by the grouping analysis of intestinal bacteria that the treatments with FlexyPro® inclusion are more similar to each other in relation to the control treatment. For the histological variables, there was an effect only for the intestinal villi height, which increased in a quadratic way until the inclusion of 52.80% of FlexyPro®, reaching a maximum of 674.065 µm, from which it decreased in a quadratic way. For immunological variables, there was only effect of total protein (PTNT), which linearly reduced with inclusion. It was found that the production costs of feed, fish and fillet decrease linearly as the FlexyPro® inclusion increases. It can be concluded that FlexyPro® can be used in tilapia feeding without affecting intestinal health, which may result in better zootechnical performance and economic viability.