Growth of Red Tilapia with the Addition of Seaweed (Caulerpa sp.) to Feed

Abstract

     Fish feed is influenced by several factors, including the raw ingredients used in the feed, the content of proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins, the manufacturing process, and the way the feed is stored. Its impact on the fish's growth rate, which should continuously increase. Caulerpa sp. is rich in nutrients, providing vegetable protein, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. This research aims to examine the effect of incorporating feed with additional Caulerpa sp. on the growth of red tilapia. One alternative is the addition of C. racemosa (sea grape seaweed flour) as a feed supplement in tilapia feed. This research used an experimental method with a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 repetitions. The treatments were A (artificial feed + 10% C. racemosa), treatment B (artificial feed + 20% C. racemosa), treatment C (artificial feed + 30% C. racemosa), and treatment D (artificial feed without the addition of C. racemosa). The result of this study shows that tilapia growth in treatment A demonstrated the highest absolute growth of 37.27 g, a specific growth rate of 2.06%, a survival rate of 100%, a feed conversion ratio of 0.2 %, and a feed utilisation 37%. This study concludes that feeding with additional C. racemosa can affect the growth of Tilapia. The addition of 10% C. racemosa can improve the growth of Tilapia significantly.