Quantifying the dietary potassium requirement of juvenile hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x O. aureus)

An 8 week feeding trial was conducted to determine the dietary K requirement for juvenile hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x O. aureus). Purified diets with eight levels (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 g/kg diet) of supplemental K were fed to tilapia. Each diet was fed to three replicate groups of fish initially weighing a mean value of 0.77 (SE 0.01) g/fish in a closed, recirculating rearing system. Weight gain was higher (P < 0.05) in fish fed the diets supplemented with 2, 3 and 4 g K/kg diet than in fish fed diet with 10 g K/kg diet and the unsupplemented control diet. Gill Na+-K+ ATPase activity was highest in fish fed the diets supplemented with 1-3 g K/kg diet, followed by fish fed the diet with 5 g K/kg diet and lowest in fish fed the diet with 10 g K/kg diet. Whole-body K content in fish were generally increased as the dietary K supplementation level increased. Analysis by polynomial regression of weight gain and gill Na+-K+ ATPase activity and by linear regression of whole-body K retention of the fish indicated that the adequate dietary K concentration for tilapia is about 2-3 g/kg diet.