The Effect of Papain Enzyme in Feed on Protein Digestibility, Efficiency Utilization of Feed and Growth Performance of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Seed Stage

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of papain enzyme in feed on protein digestibility, feed utilization efficiency, and growth performance of Tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) seed stage. The test fish used were Tilapia fish at the seed stage with an average weight of 2.49 ± 0.25 g/fish. This study used an experimental method with a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), 5 treatments, and 3 replications. The treatment in this study was the addition of papain enzyme in the feed with different doses, namely treatment A (0% kg-1 feed), B (0.75% kg-1 feed), C (1.5% kg-1 feed), D (2.25% kg-1 feed), E (3% kg-1 feed). The variables observed included the actual digestibility for protein (ADCp), feed utilization efficiency (EFU), protein efficiency ratio (PER), relative growth rate (RGR) and survival of Tilapia fish at the seed stage. The best dose of papain enzyme in Tilapia fish feed at the seed stage of 1.5%/kg of feed produced the highest values of EPP, ADCp, PER and RGR of 78.16±0.30%, 79.24±0.24%, 5.38±0.12 and 6.72±0.25%/day.