Tilapia is a warmwater fish with mild flavor. Nearly 8.6 million kg ar
e produced domestically, and approximate to 22.7 million kg are import
ed. Corn gluten meal (60% protein fraction) is a product obtained from
wet-milling of corn. Diets (36% protein) containing 36-44% corn glute
n meal with different levels of lysine and fish meal were formulated a
nd fed to tilapia in aquaria for 12 weeks. Weight gain (WG) of tilapia
fed diets containing the highest level of lysine (7.4% protein) with
4% fish meal was equal to that of fish fed a commercial control diet.
Diets with lower lysine resulted in lower WG. The feed conversion rati
o (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) of tilapia fed experimental
diets containing adequate levels of essential amino acids and fish me
al were the same as for fish fed the commercial control diet (also con
taining fish meal). Fish fed diets containing lower lysine levels had
less favorable FCR and PER. This study shows that corn gluten meal is
utilized at high levels in tilapia diets, particularly if essential am
ino acids are provided in adequate amounts.