Application of Phytogenic Compounds on Growth Performance and Gut Microbial Community of Giant Gourami (Osphronemus goramy Lac. 1801)

The giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) is a freshwater fish with great potential for aquaculture production. This omnivorous fish tends to become herbivorous when it reaches adulthood. In this study, we initially conducted a preliminary study to determine which plants support the growth of giant gourami and choosing taro leaves (Colocasia esculenta) as additional phytogenic. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of adding taro leaves on the growth performance and gut microbial community of giant gouramis weighing 213±9.72 g. In this study, five groups of diets were formulated to replace 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of commercial feed. The cultivation period lasted 16 weeks. Several parameters were observed, including absolute weight growth, specific growth rate, survival rate, haematology tests and gut bacterial community profiling using nanopore sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The results showed that replacing 25% of commercial feed with taro leaves produced the greatest weight gain in the fish (166.87±17.27 g), although there were no significant differences among the treatments. Microbiome analysis showed that the gut microbial community was dominated by the Firmicutes phylum, with a relative abundance of 91.25%. The most abundant genera were Clostridium, Paeniclostridium and Cellulosilyticum.