Effects of dietary quercetin on growth performance, serum lipids level and body composition of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

This trial was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementary quercetin on growth performance, serum lipids levels and whole fish body composition in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Four hundred fish were randomly divided into five treatment groups with four replicates in each group and 20 fish in each replicate. The dietary quercetin levels of the five treatment groups were: 0 (control group), 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg/kg, respectively; the trial period was 7 weeks. Compared with the control group, specific growth rate and condition factor of quercetin groups were improved significantly (P<0.05). No significant differences in feed conversion rate and survival rate were found between the control group and all quercetin groups (P>0.05). The triglyceride concentration in serum was decreased significantly with the increasing levels of quercetin supplementation (P<0.05), while the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration was increased significantly by the supplementation of quercetin (P<0.05). The significant difference of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration was found only between control group and highest dietary quercetin level group (P<0.05). The levels of moisture, crude protein and crude lipid of whole fish body were significantly affected by the supplementation of quercetin (P<0.05), the ash levels of all groups were similar (P>0.05). In conclusion, we demonstrated a promotion of growth performance and the reduction of lipid levels in serum and whole fish body with the supplementation of quercetin.

Keywords

• Quercetin, Tilapia, Growth performance, Serum lipids, Body composition.