4. Conclusions
The major objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of BFT
on the growth, digestive enzyme activity, hematology, and immune
response of GIFT in light-limited and zero-water exchange culture
Table 4
Hematology and immune response of tilapia reared in the control group and biofloc
technology (BFT) treatment at the end of the 8-week feeding experiment.
Each value represents mean ± S.E. (n = 9). Means in the same row with different
superscripts are significantly different at P b 0.05.
tanks. BFT had beneficial effects on themaintenance of goodwater qual-
ity, improvement of feed utilization, and the growth performance of
GIFT compared with the control group. The crude lipid content of BFT
fish exhibited an increasing trend, which suggests that BFT can
influence the fish body composition. Furthermore, BFT improved the
digestive enzyme activity of fish, which consequently enhanced the
feed utilization and growth performance. Although there were no
significant differences in the hematological parameters of GIFT between
the two groups, BFT produced a stimulatory effect on the immune
response of GIFT in some way, which may enhance the growth of
these fish. Further research should focus on an optimal method to
manage the biofloc concentration and manipulation of the microbial
communities in the biofloc. This may allow better understanding of
the pathways and mechanisms of BFT on the growth, digestive enzyme
activity, hematology, and immune response of aquatic animals.