GROWTH PERFORMANCE, SURVIVAL, AND PROCESSING CHARACTERISTICS OF HYBRID CATFISH FED PRE AND PROBIOTICS

There has been a lot of interest in the use of pre and probiotics to increase growth and improve disease resistance in the catfish industry.  This study aimed to evaluate a commercially available prebiotic and probiotic under conditions simulating commercial production in hybrid catfish.  The dietary treatments consisted of: 1) a nutritionally complete basal diet, 2) the basal diet supplemented with 2% Grobiotic®-A (International Ingredient Corporation, St. Louis, MO), 3) the basal diet supplemented with the probiotic Aquablend® (BIO-CAT, Troy, VA), and 4) the basal diet supplemented with both Grobiotic®-A and Aquablend®.  The four diets were fed to hybrid catfish (initial weight, 37.1 ± 0.1 g/fish) in 0.04 ha ponds for approximately five months.  Results showed that weight gain, feed conversion ratio, food intake, and survival were similar among treatments.  Carcass, fillet, and nugget yield were not significantly affected by treatment.  A comparison of fillet proximate composition found no differences in protein, fat, or ash among treatments.  An economic analysis revealed no benefit to feeding prebiotics or probiotics alone or in combination with one another to hybrid catfish.  While interest in feeding pre and probiotics may remain, the results of this study do not support their use in the catfish industry.