FEEDING OF TILAPIA

ON MICROBIAL FLOCS

Yoram Avnimelech
Technion, Israel Inst of Technology

Figure 1
 Recycled protein

Figure 2

Data on feed protein utilization

Conventional fish, shrimp ponds 20-25%

ASP Tilapia ponds (Avnimelech) 45%
ASP Shrimp ponds (McIntosh) 45%
Closed shrimp tanks (Velasco) 63%

ASP shrimp ponds, 15N study

Michele Burford et al. 18-29% of total N
consumption
 Typical Biomass:
Intensive shrimp ponds 1-2 kg/m2

Intensive fish ponds 10 – 50 kg/m2

Objectives

Evaluate uptake of microbial flocs

by fish.
Follow utilization of microbial
protein by fish
Develop predictive tools
 Pacific Aqua farms
Imperial valley CA

Pond Characteristics

Conventional ASP
% Daily Water 20 6
exchange

% protein in 30-35 20
feed

Aeration, 13 13
hp/1000 sq.m
Tanks: 800 l
20 fish, 107 g each
15N added, + 150 g starch
To incorporate all TAN in microbial cells

2 Experimental phases:

1. No feed added for 6 days.

Only food source – microbial flocs

2. Feed added (6 days in Pacific, 9

days in Dor, Israel)
 Results: Floc volume

Results: a. Floc volume

 45

40
35

floc volum e, m l
30

25

20

15
10

0
-5 0 Days from5 stocking 10 15

FV = 31 – 1.714 t, R2 = 0.686,

Floc Plug contained 1.4% dry solids

Daily uptake per fish = 1.15g

700

600

500
TSS, mg/l

400

300

200

100

0
1 3 6 9 12
Days

Changes of TSS, Total suspended solids with time

-20 mg/l day in no fed phase
Daily uptake per fish, 0.954 g
 180.0
160.0
140.0
120.0
100.0

mgC/l
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
0 2 4 6 days 8 10 12 14

Changes of suspended carbon with time

C = 168 – 6.61 t R2 = 0.986
Daily uptake by fish 0.59 g carbon

30.0

25.0

20.0
mgN/l

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0
0 2 4 6 days 8 10 12 14

Changes of suspended nitrogen

N = 24.8 – 0.868 t R2 = 0.987
Daily uptake by fish = 0.039 g N
= 0.25 g protein
Daily decrease of TSS, floc volume, suspended
carbon and nitrogen,
during the no – feed period.

TSS Floc Carbon Nitrogen

Volume

Daily measured 20 mg/l 1.74 ml/l 6.61 mg/l 0.87 mg/l

change

Equivalent dry SS 20 24.3 26.9 23.5

change (mg/l)

Daily uptake by 0.954 1.154 1.18 1.034

fish as equivalent
SS (g/fish)

Bonus: 15N Results

 15N enrichment (%) of suspended matter
in the Pacific Aquafarm tanks.

1.80

1.60

1.40

1.20

1.00
% 15N

0.80
y = -0.0465x + 1.5942
0.60 2
R = 0.9728
0.40

0.20

0.00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Days

15N
enrichment (%) of suspended matter in
the Dor tanks.

2.0
1.8
1.6 y = -0.048x + 1.65
15n enrichment %

1.4 R2 = 0.9455
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0
Days
What are the reasons for the decline of
15N enrichment?

1. Uptake of 15N enriched microbial protein.

2. Excretion of TAN originating in “old”, un-

tagged fish protein

15N percentage in fish sampled

in the Pacific Aquafarm experiment

15N, Fish, California

0.46

0.44

0.42
15N enrichment, %

0.40

0.38

0.36

0.34

0.32

0.30
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Days
 15Npercentage in fish
sampled in the Dor experiment

15 n enrichment, Fish, Dor

0.50

0.48

0.46

0.44
15N enrichment, %

0.42

0.40

0.38

0.36

0.34

0.32

0.30
0 5 10 15 20 25
Days

Calculation of N uptake and excretion

Assumptions:
Two processes:
1. Uptake of suspended N (flocs, feed)
2. Excretion of TAN
NH3 volatilization, denitrification, negligible.
15Nw (mg /l) = 15Nw (%) x Nt (mg /l)

and:
Net Nt uptake (mg /l) =
= 15N (mg /1)/ 15Nw(%)
Net Nt Uptake in Pacific was found to be
44.4 + 14.8 mg N/ fish * day
for both non-fed and fed phases
(From balance approach, N uptake
Was 39 mgN/fish * day

The difference between uptake and

accumulation by fish

A certain fraction of N taken up is excreted.

Nt accumulated= Nt up – Nt ex
In previous calculations, both those using
material balances and those using 15N,
The net uptake (accumulation) were obtained.
Using the 15 N technique, it is possible to
evaluate amount of excreted N.
Results

During the no-feed period in Pacific expt.,

N uptake was 25 mg N/day * fish.
N excretion 4.4 mg N/day * fish,
i.e. excretion was 15% of uptake,
Compared to ~ 70% for whole pond
balances.
Is it since microbial protein is a better
diet?? More work is needed

Conclusions (1)

1. It was shown that microbial flocs are

effectively utilized by tilapia. Consistent
results were obtained using a number of
independent measures: Floc volume,
changes in time of TSS, C & N in the water
and changes with time of 15N in water &
fish.
Conclusion (2)

2. for a tilapia pond with ca 25 kg fish/m3

and floc volume of ~ 30 ml/m3, about 50%
of feed and protein requirement were
supplied by the microbial flocs.
3. Volumetric concentration of flocs (FV)
is an easily obtained indicator of floc
feeding potential. e.g., 5 ml/l FV is
equivalent to 700 kg feed/ha.

Conclusion (3)

4. It seems that flocs harvesting is

independent of feeding.
5. Floc harvesting probably follows:
Floc Harvesting = VFC * FS * K(fish)
Where VFC is floc volumetric
concentration, FS, properties of flocs
(size, charge, adherence..) and K (fish),
prperty of fish (species, size, etc)
Conclusion (4)

6. It is possible that microbial protein has

a higher availability than feed protein.
7 This topic needs and deserves
more research

Thanks for your attention

agyoram@tx.technion.ac.il