Development and Evaluation of Vegetable and Fish Wastes Silage (VFWS) Additive to Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Feeds

Abstract— Nile tilapia fingerlings fed varying levels of vegetable and fish waste silage (VFWS), following a completely randomized design (CRD) were studied to determine the optimum level of replacement to the commercial diet on growth parameters, and economic benefits. In the experiment, a total of 120 fingerlings with an initial mean weight of 8.89 g were used. They were divided into four (4) groups based on their dietary needs: Treatment 1 (T1) was the pure commercial feeds, 100% CF; Treatment 2 (T2) 10% VFWS and 90% CF; Treatment 3 (T3) 15% VFWS and 85% CF; and Treatment 4 (T4) 20% VFWS and 80% CF with three (3) replications each. The results showed that there were no significant differences between any of the treatments in terms of growth parameters indicating comparable performance of the treated diets with the control. Moreover, T3 has the tendency to increase the survival rate, which suggests an apparent acceptability of the VFWS. Finally, the results proved a promising utilization of VFWS as a replacement of commercial aqua diets for Nile Tilapia fingerlings at the early growth stage.