Fish growth and yield parameters
The fish growth and yield parameters of both groups are shown in
Table 2. Weight gain and individual fish weight in the BFT treatment
was 9.46% and 12.54% higher, respectively, than in the control group.
Furthermore, BFT significantly increased the SGR of fish in the BFT
group at harvest (P b 0.05). The survival rate of fish in the BFT treatment
and control tanks was 100%. Compared with the control group, the FCR
of the BFT group was 17.5% lower, while the PER was 22.2% higher. The
net yield of the BFT group (6.22 kg m−3
) was significantly higher than
that of the control (5.88 kg m−3
)(P b 0.05). Luo et al. (2014) reported
similar results for fish growth and feed utilization parameters. Biofloc
contributes significantly to the growth of fish (Avnimelech, 2007;
Azim and Little, 2008), and this finding is consistent with the present
results. Burford et al. (2004) found that over 29% of the daily food
consumed by Litopenaeus vannamei could be biofloc. In addition, biofloc
has been demonstrated to be an effective potential food source for tila-
pia using a stable nitrogen isotope labeling technique (Avnimelech,