Dietary <i>Euterpe oleracea</i> Essential Oil, the Amazon Açaí, as Feed Additive to Amazonian Ornamental Fish, during Post-Larvae Growing Stage: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the growth performance, batch uniformity, and survival rate of the Amazonian ornamental fish Heros severus and Pterophyllum scalare during the post-larvae growing stage, fed with diets containing levels of Euterpe oleraceae essential oil (EOO) during 30 days. In the first experiment, 160 H. severus post-larvae were distributed in 16 aquariums (1 L), and in the second, 200 P. scalare post-larvae were randomly distributed in 20 aquariums (1 L). The experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design, with four treatments for H. severus (0.0%, 0.50%, 1.00%, and 2.00% of dietary EOO) and five treatments for P. scalare (0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%, and 4.0% of dietary EOO), both with four replications and dietary EOO being included in replacing soybean oil. A quadratic effect (p P. scalare and H. severus post-larvae, the inclusion of dietary EOO was beneficial in up to 2.48% and 0.88%, respectively.

Keywords

• Amazonian vegetable oils
• larviculture
• altricial post-larvae