ISSN 2375-0715
African Journal of Fisheries Science ISSN 2375-0715 Vol. 11 (2), pp. 001-007, February, 2023. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Effect of direct injection of shark DNA into skeletal muscles on the productive performance characteristics of red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) fed at different dietary regimes
Samy Yehya El-Zaeem1,3*, Nader Ezzat El-Tawil2 and Talaat Nagy Amer2
1DNA Research Chair, Zoology Department, College of Sciences, P.O. Box 2455, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
2Experimental Station for Aquaculture Research (ESAR), Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Agriculture Research Center, Alexandria, Egypt.
3Animal and Fish Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba-Bacha), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Accepted 08 November, 2022
Abstract
The present work aims to study the effect of direct injection of shark (Squalus acanthias L.) DNA into skeletal muscles of red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) fingerlings fed at different dietary regimes (three protein levels; 18, 22 and 26% each with two metabolizable energy levels; 244 and 260 kcal/100 g diet) on the productive performance. The results showed that growth performance, body composition and feed utilization of red tilapia injected with shark DNA had significant superiority (P≤0.05) compared with non-injected fish. Red tilapia fed 22% protein diet had significant improving (P≤0.05) most of the productive performance traits. Moreover, final body weight, weight gain, percent body weight increases, feed intake and protein retention percentage of red tilapia fed on diet containing 244 kcal/100 g, were significantly higher (P≤0.05) than those of fish fed on diet containing 260 kcal/100 g. These data suggests that dietary protein can be spared down to 22% protein by direct injection of shark DNA into skeletal muscles of fish. Thus, feed costs can be reduced by a further reduction in dietary protein. Therefore, the result of the present work indicates a possible easy and rapid way for improving fish characteristics.
Key words: Red tilapia, Oreochromis sp., deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) transfer, productive performance, dietary regimes.