Author(s): Asaduzzaman Nur, Md. Foysul Hossain, Md. Nahid Hasan, Saida Zannat, Koushik Chakroborty and SM Rafiquzzaman

Abstract: Formulating new fish feed is one of the major challenges for profitable aquaculture. With this view, this study was designed to find out the effect of seaweed as replacement of fish meal on growth and immune response of Tilapia. This experiment was carried out in earthen pit with four treatments (T₁: Control, T₂: 10%, T₃: 20% and T₄: 30% seaweed as fish meal replacement) with three replications of each. Fishes were reared in very small earthen ponds called pits for 60 days. Results found that, the average weight gain, the relative percent (%) increment of weight gain and specific growth rate (SGR % day^-1) was highest in T₄ followed by T_3, T₂ and T₁ (P<0.05). Furthermore, feed conversion ratio (FCR) of experimental Tilapia in T₁, T_2, T₃ and T₄ was 1.27±0.35, 1.15±0.18, 1.12±0.07 and 1.02±0.28, respectively which was significantly different (P>0.05). Regarding the immune response of Tilapia, the blood parameters such as red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscle volume (MCV), mean corpuscle hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscle hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were measured. Results found that the highest number of RBC (3.23×10⁶ cells mm^-3) and WBC (12.86 × 10³ cells mm^-3) were found in T₄ along with other blood parameters compared to T_3, T₂ and T₁. So, it can be inferred that seaweed has positive impact on growth and immune system of fish.

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