Dietary supplementation of silica nanoparticles effects in growth performance, muscle protein and trace elements concentration in Anabas tesudineus fingerlings

Abstract

The world's fastest-growing food-producing industry is Aquaculture. Anabas testudineus is indigenous to Asia. This species grows to maximum length of 25 cm. Silica is important in providing structural support in filtration and feeding mechanisms and helping biomineralization processes in animals. In lower concentrations silica interacts with biological systems beneficially without causing any harm. It is a study of supplementation of dietary silica nanoparticles to Anabas testudineus fingerlings at different concentrations to evaluate the growth performance (Length, weight and survival rate), FCR, SGR, changes in concentration of protein level and trace elements (Zinc and iron) for 60 days. In this study the optimum concentration of dietary silica nanoparticles for maximum growth and SGR value was found to be 0.04 g/100 g. It indicates that SiNP has a significant role in the increase in growth performance of Anabas testudineus fingerlings. There is a non-significant large positive correlation between the length gain and weight gain of Anabas testudineus at particular concentrations of SiNPs (r=0.788, p=0.063). FCR value obtained maximum at 0.06, 0.1 g/100 g SiNPs. Significance of SiNP on FCR value is not clear in this case. SiNP has no significant role on the changes of protein content in the muscle tissues of the Anabas testudineus fingerlings. Concentration of essential trace elements such as iron and zinc are increased by the use of silica nanoparticles as dietary supplement.