Growth,water quality and oxidative stress of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) in biofloc technology system at different pH

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the pH effects on growth, survival, water quality, proximal composition of bioflocs and oxidative stress of Nile tilapia in biofloc technology (BFT) system. Twenty‐five fish (3.68 ± 0.93 g) were distributed in each tank (useful vol. 37.5 L), utilizing treatments with pH 8.3, 7.5 and 6.5 at 60 days. During the experiment, the oxidation of total ammonia was similar among the treatments. However, the NO₂^?‐ N oxidation was slower at pH 6.5 (10.1 ± 1.0 mg/L) compared to pH 7.5 (7.0 ± 0.6 mg/L) and 8.3 (7.1 ± 1.5 mg/L). The final weight was higher for pH 7.5 treatment (44.1 ± 0.9 g) compared to pH 8.3 (37.1 ± 3.9 g), while the pH 6.5 (40.4 ± 4.1 g) was like to the other treatments. Moreover, the survival, daily growth rate and the food conversion rate were not affected by treatments. When evaluating physiological and biochemical parameters, no alterations were detected, therefore, indicating that fish have a good health status. Thus, the present study demonstrates that BFT for a Nile tilapia nursery, utilizing pH 6.5–7.5, promotes the best results in terms of growth, net yield and efficiency.