Effects of betaine on the growth of the fish piauçu, Leporinus macrocephalus

Abstract

In this study was tested the effect of betaine on the growth performance of the piauçu fish. For this, twenty-one fish (mean ± SD: body weight: 14.9 ± 1.3 g) were randomly distributed in one out of three experimental treatments (n = 7 each; 1 fish/aquarium): without betaine added in the food (control); 3.6 g betaine/Kg of food; 7.1 g betaine/Kg of food. The fish were exposed to experimental conditions for 60 days. Fish presented significant growth throughout experimentation, but no statistically significant difference was found for any parameter analyzed among the treatments, except for condition factor, which was higher in control group than betaine ones. Accordingly, it was concluded that betaine had no enhancing effect on growth of piauçu.Abbreviations: SGR -specific growth rate; FCE -food conversion efficiency; FI -food intake; K -condition factor; TGC -thermal-unit growth coefficient

Effects of dietary betaine in allogynogenetic gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio): Enhanced growth, reduced lipid deposition and depressed lipogenic gene expression

“…have been reported in different fishes, indicating a species-specific betaine effect (Normandes et al, 2006). In this study, significantly higher FBW and SGR were observed in allogynogenetic gibel carp fed the diet containing 0.4% betaine than in the control group (p < .05).…”

“…Betaine as a common feed supplement has been widely used to enhance growth performance in fish. However, controversial results have been reported in different fishes, indicating a species‐specific betaine effect (Normandes et al., ). In this study, significantly higher FBW and SGR were observed in allogynogenetic gibel carp fed the diet containing 0.4% betaine than in the control group ( p < .05).…”

“…However, studies that focus on the food calling property of betaine in different fish species have led to conflicting results. For example, betaine does not improve feed intake and growth performance in Coregonus schinzi palea (Dabrowski & Kaushik, 1985), Oncorhynchus mykiss (Hughes, 1991) and Leporinus macrocephalus (Normandes, Barreto, Carvalho, & Delicio, 2006). Moreover, it is unclear whether betaine is effective to reduce lipid deposition in omnivorous fishes.…”

Effects of four feeding stimulants in high plant-based diets on feed intake, growth performance, serum biochemical parameters, digestive enzyme activities and appetite-related genes expression of juvenile GIFT tilapia (Oreochromis sp.)

“…Higher growth performance was found with the supplementation of Bet in Indian major carp Labeo rohita (Shankar, Murthy, Pavadi, & Thanuja, ), pike perch Sander lucioperca fingerlings (Rahimabadi, Akbari, Arshadi, & Effatpanah, ), tilapia (Luo et al., ) and rainbow trout (Tiril, Alagil, Yagci, & Aral, ). To the contrary, Normandes, Barreto, Carvalho, and Delicio () concluded that Bet had no enhancing effect on growth of piauçu Leporinus macrocephalus . The possible reason for the positive effect of Bet on growth in the present study might due to the higher digestive enzyme activities (seen in Table ).…”

Red beet and betaine as ingredients in diets of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): effects on growth performance, nutrient retention and flesh quality

“…At the end of the experimental assay, the level of red beet and betaine separately, produced a significant decrease on Wf, SGR AND TGC, whereas fish fed with diet with 28% red beet and 0.9% betaine significantly reduced those parameters compared to the other dietary treatments. Betaine has been reported as a feeding stimulant to fish, inducing an increase of FI, and consequently, improving growth rate (Normandes et al 2006, Tiril et al 2008. However, in this study, the inclusion of betaine on rainbow trout diets did not show significant differences on FI and did not improve rainbow trout growth.…”