Effects of chitosan nanoparticles on survival, growth and meat quality of tilapia, Oreochromis nilotica.

To evaluate the effect of dietary chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles on survival rate, growth performance and meat quality of tilapia (Oreochromis nilotica) under laboratory conditions, fish were fed with these compounds both at 5.0 g kg(-1) of diet for a period of 60 days. The addition of chitosan nanoparticles (T-2) significantly improved (P < 0.05) final weight, daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to fish fed chitosan containing diet (T-1) and basal diet (control). However, there were no significant differences in final weight, DWG and FCR between T-1 and control. As for crude fat, the lowest content (P < 0.05) was found in T-2. In addition, a significant increase (P < 0.05) in inosinic acid content was found in T-2 compared with T-1 and control. These results indicate that dietary chitosan nanoparticles supplementation improved the growth performance and meat quality status of tilapia.