Sazmal E. Arshad, Fatin Najiha M. Jeffrey, Zarina Amin, and Rossita Shapawi

DOI: 10.14456/sjst-psu.2021.67

pp. 505 - 511

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of inclusion levels of sodium bentonite clay as a feed additive on growth and
hematology parameters of TGGG, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × E. lanceolatus. Four dietary treatments D1, D2, D3, and D4 feeds
comprising 0, 1, 1.5, and 2% clay respectively were evaluated for weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed intake
(FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), survival, and hematology parameters. D3 comprising of 1.5% clay showed significantly higher
WG, SGR, FI, red blood count (RBC), and the best FCR compared to the other dietary treatments. D4 comprising of 2% clay
showed the least desirable effects on growth performance and feed utilization of hybrid TGGG with significantly lower WG,
SGR, and RBC compared to D3; as well as the poorest FCR value. D3 also showed the lowest WBC count compared to D1, D2
and D4. Taken together, these findings indicated that dietary treatments comprising 1.5% clay is the most suitable among other
investigated treatments as a growth promoting feed additive.