Effects of dietary potassium diformate (KDF) on growth performance and immunity of the sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, reared in hapas

E. Hussein, Ebtehal; M. Ashry, Ahmed; M. Habiba, Mahmoud

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2020.117517

Effects of dietary potassium diformate (KDF) on growth performance and immunity of the sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, reared in hapas

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

10.21608/ejabf.2020.117517

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the effects of potassium diformate (KDF) with different levels of (0, 2, 3, and 4 g kg^-1 diet) in the diets for European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax juveniles on the growth performance, feed utilization, and haematobiochemical parameters for 90 days. Latterly, the highest final weight (35.1 g) and weight gain (29.6 g) were detected in the fish fed diet supplemented with potassium diformate at the level of 2 g kg^-1 (KDF2). Significant differences in the survival rate (%) were observed among the experimental groups, enhanced by increasing the level of KDF in the experimental diets and the highest value (98.89%) was observed in the fish fed diet supplemented with potassium diformate at the level of 4 g kg^-1 (KDF4). Increased values of white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were observed in the fish fed KDF2 diet. Serum analyses of sea bass fingerlings fed the experimental diets with different levels of KDF had a significant (P < 0.05) effect on the immunophysiological parameters such as phagocytic percentage and lysozyme activity. The increasing levels of KDF in the experimental diets did affect the phagocytic percentage and the lysozyme activity positively (P < 0.05). It can be concluded that the dietary potassium diformate (KDF) has a positive effect on the growth performance, feed utilization and survival rate of European sea bass fingerlings. These results show the potential for KDF application in the cultivated sea bass juvenile diets to serve as a growth promoter and a basic defense module when given at 2 or 3 g kg^-1.

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