Keywords
Mahseer, Probiotic, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Kaempferia galangal, Lactobacillus casei,
Mahseer, Probiotic, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Kaempferia galangal, Lactobacillus casei,
Aquaculture is a promising business and growing faster in recent years. In Indonesia the most common species of freshwater fish used for aquaculture are several introduced species, for example, tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and African catfish Clarias gariepinus1,2. However, Indonesia has a great diversity of freshwater fish species3, several of which have the potential for aquaculture. Muchlisin4 evaluated 114 species of freshwater fish from the waters of Aceh Province. In total, 40 species are being utilized for consumption, and 14 species have a high economic value and great potential to be utilized as such. One of these species is Tor tambra, locally known as keureling fish.
Presently, aquaculture of keureling fish has already been initiated in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Several studies on this species have been documented, for example, Muchlisin5 has reported the domestication techniques for broodstock, and the prevalence of ectoparasites and endoparasites in keureling fish6–7. Moreover, Muchlisin et al.8 reported that a diet of 30% protein gave the best growth performance for T. tambra fry, compared to 20% and 25% protein. Muchlisin et al.9–10 have also studied the effect of papain enzyme and additional vitamins in the diet. However, the growth pattern analysis has shown that cultured fish display slower growth compared to wild populations11. This is probably due to low protein digestibility resulting in low feed efficiency. It has been suggested that the growth performance of cultured populations could be enhanced through addition of probiotic to the diet to increase feed efficiency12. Probiotic in the diet functions as an agent that triggers the metabolism of nutrients from complex compounds into simpler compounds which are readily absorbed by the intestine13,14. Several studies have reported that addition of probiotic to the diet has a significant effect on growth performance in some species of freshwater fish, for example, catfish Pangasius sutchi and Pangasius hypothalamus15,16, nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus17, Catla catla18, gourami Osphronemus gourami19 and three-spot gourami Trichopodus trichopterus20.
It is important to overcome the low growth problem of T. tambra in captivity, and presently there is no study available on the effects of adding probiotic to the T. tambra diet. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of probiotic Lactobacillus casei from Yakult® enhanced with temulawak (Curcuma xanthorrhiza) and kencur (Kaempferia galanga) on the growth performance and feed utilization of T. tambra.
The study was conducted at local aquaculture ponds at Desa Meunasah Krueng, in the Beutong Subdistrict of the Nagan Raya District, from August 2014 to December 2014. The completely randomized design was utilized in this study. Four levels of probiotic dosage were tested, namely: 0 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed (control), 5 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed, 10 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed, and 15 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed. Every treatment was replicated three times. The experimental diet containing 30% protein was prepared using raw materials purchased from the local market. Each material and formulated feed was tested for crude protein content (Table 1).
A total of 180 T. tambra fish fry with average length of 3.5 cm and average weight of 0.36 g were used in this study. The fry was purchased from the local farmer in the Nagan Raya District and distributed randomly into 12 1m × 1m × 1m hapas (cage settle nets) in a 25m × 20m × 1.3m ground pond at the stocking density of 15 fishes per hapa. The fish were weaned for 7 days prior to experimental procedures. They were fed the experimental diet minus probiotic during the weaning process. After weaning, the fish were fed on experimental diet at a feeding level of 5% body weight twice a day (08.00 AM and 06.00 PM) for 80 days. The pond was equipped with a water flow system at a water discharge of 120 L min-1. The weight gain was calculated at 10 day intervals. The feces of the fish were collected from respective hapas to examine the protein content of the feces using the Kjeldahl method21.
The crude protein in the raw material, feces and experimental diet was measured using the Kjeldahl method21. About one gram of dry sample (raw material, experimental diet or feces) was weighed and placed into Kjeldahl beakers, then 10 g of catalyst (SeOCl2, Selenium Oxydichloride) and 25 ml sulfuric acid were added into the same beaker. The sample was heated to 250 °C for 20 minutes, shaken carefully, then heated to 350 °C for 2 hours. The samples were left to cool for 10 minutes, then 300 ml distilled water was added. Diluted samples were distilled, and this was followed by titration using 0.1 N HCl. Crude lipid was measured by chloroform-methanol extraction21. Samples of the raw material or diet were homogenized with a high-speed homogenizer for 5 min and lipid was determined gravimetrically after solvent separation and vacuum drying.
The probiotic was prepared using a mixture of temulawak (C. xanthorrhiza), kencur (K. galanga), molasses and Yakult® (Lactobacillus casei) as a starter. The Yakult® was purchased from a local market in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. For 1 liter of probiotic mixture the following is needed: 50 g of temulawak, 100 g kencur, 100 ml of molasses and 1 bottle of Yakult®. All materials were mashed and mixed, then placed in sealed containers and fermented for 7 days. Every 2 days the container was opened to remove the gas of fermentation. For each experiment, the corresponding amount of probiotic solution was mixed with egg yolk, whisked and sprayed evenly on the diet, then dried at room temperature for 30 minutes prior to feeding to the experimental fish.
Weight gain (Wg) and specific growth rate (SGR), food conversion ratio (FCR) and feed efficiency (FE) were calculated as follows:
a. Wg = Wt – Wo, where Wg = weight gain (g), Wt = weight at the end of the experiment (g), Wo = weight at start of the experiment (g)
b. The specific growth rate is the percentage of weight gain per day. SGR (% day-1) = (Ln Wt – Ln Wo) / t x 100, where Ln= Logarithm natural, t = experiment duration (day)22. Daily growth and survival rates were also calculated, based on Muchlisin et al.10.
c. The Feed Conversion Ratio is the amount of feed (g) required to produce 1 gram of fish23, FCR = F/(Wt – Wo), where F= the amount of given feed (g)
d. The Feed Efficiency is the total weight gain produced per total weight of feed consumed23, FE (%)= (1/ FCR) x 100.
All data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the comparison of means using Duncan’s multiple range test24.
All procedures involving animals were conducted in compliance with The Syiah Kuala University Research and Ethics Guidelines, Section of Animal Care and Use in Research (Ethic Code No: 958 /2015). Please refer to Supplementary File 1 for the completed ARRIVE guidelines checklist.
Estimated weight gain the keureling fish fry ranged between 0.73 g to 1.48 g, and the specific growth rate was 1.40% to 2.04%. and the survival rate was 66.67% to 95.56%(Table 2). Feed efficiency ranged between 28.40% to 42.21% and feed conversion ratio ranged between 2.37 to 3.52 (Table 2). ANOVA revealed that probiotic had a significant effect on the growth performance, survival rate, feed efficiency, feed conversion and crude protein content in the feces of keureling fish fry (P<0.05), where the best results were observed at a dosage of 10 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed. The growth trend of the keureling fish fry during the experiment significantly increased from day 10 to day 40 and from day 50 to day 80 (Figure 1).
All data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the comparison of means using Duncan’s multiple range test. The means at different probiotic dosage across each parameter were compared. When means have the same superscript (a, b, c, d), they are not significantly different.
The study revealed that a probiotic dosage of 10 ml kg-1 gave the best results compared to other dosages. 10 ml kg-1 may provide an optimum condition for digestive bacteria such as Lactobacillus sp. to grow well and facilitate feed digestibility. This is based on the low protein content in the feces, an indication that the protein was digested better at this dosage. Arief et al.25 stated that Lactobacillus sp. has the ability to balance and enhance microbial condition in the digestive tract by converting carbohydrates into lactic acid, which reduces the pH and so improves the digestibility functions of the tilapia fish, Oreochromis niloticus. This would then stimulate the production of endogenous enzymes to improve absorption of nutrients, and inhibit the growth and activity of pathogenic organisms in the digestive tract. Irianto26 also stated that the addition of probiotics to the diet increases the amount and activity of bacteria in the digestive tract of tilapia fish, and stimulates bacteria to secrete digestive enzymes such as protease and amylase which play an important role in protein and carbohydrates digestion, respectively. Marzouk et al.27 stated that the activities of natural digestive bacteria of tilapia would change significantly when supplemented with external digestive microbes. The activity of probiotic bacteria greatly affects the balance of microflora in the digestive tract that will suppress other pathogenic bacteria resulting in increased digestive efficiency28.
Temulawak and kencur contain bioactive compounds such as curcumins and atsiri oil, respectively, with associated health benefits. These compounds can function as antibiotics, neutralize toxins and increase the secretion of bile29. This improves the digestive system and increases appetite in fish thus accelerating their growth performance. A similar finding by Hassan et al.30 reported that the combination of K. galangal and yeast probiotic had a significant effect on the growth performance and product quality of the Labeo rohita fingerling. Besides, curcumin also helps promote the immune system31.
However, excessive probiotics could hamper growth as recorded in this study. As observed the growth performance increased from control (without probiotic) up to 10 ml kg-1 then decreased when the probiotic dosage was upped to 15 ml kg-1. According to Atlas and Bartha32, higher doses of probiotics favour production of secondary metabolites due to the increased bacterial load, leading to competition for nutrient and substrate utilization and inhibition of digestion and nutrient absorption. Pelczar and Chan33 stated that excessive secondary metabolites will kill some bacteria groups, reducing digestibility. Therefore a number of digestive bacteria should be at an optimum level but this differs among species.
Addition of probiotics to the diet of the keureling fish (T. tambra) could enhance growth performance, feed efficiency, feed conversion, protein retention and protein digestibility of larva. We found that 10 ml probiotic kg-1 of feed was an optimum dosage for this species.
Dataset 1: Raw data and processed data collected for the study. This includes crude protein in the feces, growth performance, daily growth rate, specific growth rate, survival rate, weight, feed conversion ratio.
DOI, 10.5256/f1000research.10693.d15153634
Dataset 2: Raw data of Tor tambra weight gain.
ZAM developed the research proposal and study design and approved the final draft of the paper. TM, TA and ID were responsible for conducting experiments and data collection. CY, AAM and NF carried out data analysis and were involved in report drafting. MNS was responsible for proximate analysis and proofreading of the final draft.
We declare no competing interests with PT Yakult Indonesia Persada, the producer of Yakult® in Indonesia.
This study was supported by Syiah Kuala University and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia through the Penelitian Unggulan Perguruan Tingi scheme.
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
We thank Syiah Kuala University and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia for supporting this study. The authors thank Mr. Khaidir for his assistance during the field experiment in Nagan Raya District.
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Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
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