Effect of brown algae Padina pavonica as a dietary supplement on growth performance and health status of cultured Oreochromis niloticus

Growth rates and health status of fish have been positively affected by adding dietary brown algae Padina pavonica as a meal. The present study aims to investigate the effects of P. pavonica on growth performance, hematology, biochemistry, and kidney and liver status of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The diets of Nile tilapia, with an initial weight of 4.58 ± 0.03 g, were enriched with 2.0, 4.0, 6.0 and 8.0 g/kg of P. pavonica concentrations for 45 days. This study was performed under two different conditions, i.e., experimental environment (A) and farming environment (B). At the end of the trial, the parameters of growth performance showed a significant difference between groups in experimental environment. However, they showed no significant difference in farming environment. The highest growth recorded with higher concentrations of P. pavonica diets (8.0 g/kg) as compared to their control in farming environment. In terms of hematological and biochemical parameters, this study revealed that there were highly significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the treated and control groups, with higher concentrations of algal meals (8.0 g/kg), in both farming and experimental environments.