Assessment of the Proximate Composition of Tilapia Produced in Aquaponics System

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the proximate composition of O. niloticus under different aquaponics system in the Germplasm Center of Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU), Bangladesh. Three different treatments were used with triplicates which designed with no bedding substrate (as a control), biochar based substrate and brick based substrate in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The results of proximate composition of the O. niloticus from no bedding substrate (control system), biochar based aquaponics system and brick based aquaponics system showed that the moisture content was within the range of 65.38–78.65 with the lowest value in T2. The protein contents of O. niloticus were comparable among three treatments ranging from 14.34–18.56% and significantly higher (p<0.05) protein content was found in T2, where biochar was used as a substrate. The fat content was the highest in T2 (4.43%) while in T1 and T3, it was 1.43 and 2.39%, respectively. Ash contents were 2.71, 1.32 and 3.77% in the T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The results showed that O. niloticus from three different treatments had considerable content of nutrients. It can be concluded that the proximate composition of O. niloticus is slightly better in T2 where biochar was used as a substrate for vegetable cultivation.