Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia

Thank u for this interesting artcle about the Effect of Dietary Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia; but why only male Tilabia has been used, also is there any effect of NDF on fertility of males?

Dear Dr. Alfadil,
thank you for your feedback. Since tilapia are a mouth-breeding species and females have been reported to lay eggs already at weight levels which we have reached within our study we decided to do the trial with males only in order to not have a negative impact on the feed uptake (fish with eggs in their mouth have a reduced feed intake). Regarding your question on fertility....sodium diformate as a feed additive has reported effects against pathogenic bacteria - thus influencing the survival rates, it has effects on growth performance, digestibility and gut health...but we have not seen any effects on fertility in males. You could speculate that a fish in a healthy condition (which may be reached with diformates) might have a better reproduction...but again - I have no data to support an improved fertility in males.

Derar Dr. Christian, L
Thank you I am very interested in this article about the effect of Dietary Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia, what kind the other fish does have the same effect? Do you have the data? Whether the NDF is sold freely in the market? And not prohibited for use for humans?

Dear Mr. Edirwarman,
Organic acids or organic acids salts are widely used in animal production. They have been used since almost 50 years in swine, at least since around 30 years in poultry. In aquaculture the number of published papers on the use of dietary acidifier in fish has grown steady within the last years. So the use of such organic acids salts is registered and allowed to be used. So far we have tested with our aquaculture feed additive based on diformate the following fish species: trout, tilapia, seabass, milkfish, pangasius and shrimp. The data had been published at conferences and seminars. Usually you have to register additives at your country. This is currently been done in Indonesia.

Interesting article about the effect of Dietary Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia. Can be used in feed fry in weaning

Very interesting results, if you don´t mind me asking: what was the procedure for supplementing the diets? We have had similar results using another feed aditive (a polypeptide) with an 11.8% overall biomass output increment in a 16 wk feeding trials, and we´ll love to compare results in a future trial, thanks in advance.

Dear Christian:
Thank you for your interesting article about the effect of Dietary Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia. Is it possible to explain the chemical composition of NDF? And its mechanism on growth performance of fish?

Dear Morteza,
Sodium diformate is a double salt of formic acid; it consists of a molecule formic acid and a molecule sodium formate, combined by a hydrogen bound. Thus, in contrast to formic acid, which is liquid, corrosice and volatile, sodium diformate is a crystalline salt, which is non-corrosive and thermic stable. it can be therefore used in aquaculture feed processing. The compound has been tested at the Aquaculture Protein Center in Norway at extrusion temperatures of up to 140°C. The growth enhancing effects in fish may come from two angles... first: organic acids and organic acid salts have anti-bacterial effects against gram-negative bacteria, like Vibrio spp. You may therefore be in the position to modulate the gut microflora towards a beneficial population, as it has been described in other livestock. And second - and probably more important: you are able to keep a low pH in the gastric tract (stomach), which is important in order to digest the dietary protein efficiently (activation of pepsin...). I hope this answers your question.

Dear Dr. Rodriguez,
As far as I recall we used a regular commercial diet for tilapia from the Philippines. As we needed only a small amount of supplemented diet, the pelleted diets was ground. The crystalline product was mixed in - and the diet was pelleted again, lab scale. Fish in both groups, control and treatment, were given the appropriate feed with a daily ration equivalent to 5 percent of their body weight - and the fish were fed 3 times a day. Let me know whether you would love a sample of the additive. As of now we are working in tilapia culture in Ecuador and Colombia, with some plans to start in Middle-America.

Mr Lückstädt

Thanks a lot for your kind reply, of course it will be great to obtain a sample, in fact we are just about to start some feeding trails in biofloc systems and perhaps we could see a better utilization when feed has your additive, both by the fish and the biofloc. I´ll send you an inbox with my contact information.

Best regards from México

Thanks for your article about the effect of Dietary Sodium Diformate on the Growth Performance of Male Nile Tilapia. I would like to to know if this result and effect can be attributable to both adult and juvenile tilapia. I will try the supplements soon on some tropical species. I have developed some special feeds for some tropical species and would like to see if this can alter results. I am a fish nutritionist and biologist too.
Thanks

Dear Mr. Enyidi,
Yes, the additive can be used in both - juvenile as well as in adult fish. However, as usual with all species in which acidifier has been tested (fish, pig, poultry) the effect on weight ganin as well as feed conversion is greater in juvenile fish.
Keep me updated on your trials.

Dear Dr. Christian,
Excellent, I think you've posted a very interesting topic, to be further retested in my place.
But, since I run my business in a very small village and far from big city, would you or anyone help to let me know where to find this product in Indonesia?
Thank you in advance.
Peyi Dengah

Dear Peyi,
We are currently registering the additive in Indonesia. Dossier and samples for testing have handed in to the respective authorities. You may ask our local distributor Novindo for further details.

Dear Dr. Christian,
Thank you for your reply, and I'll contact Novindo local distributor Indonesia.
As I know from you (Session 33 - Abstract 826), sodium diformate is a family of organic formic acid salt includes for one instance is calcium propionate whichs can perform similar role.
What I'd like to ask you is it possible to put calcium propionate with probiotics together in one diatery for nile tilapia?
If it's ok, how the application of those dosage?
Regards,

Dear Peyi,
I am sure you can combine calcium propionate with probiotics in the finished feed for fish. I have however not yet seen regularly that calcium propionate in fish feed would be used to enhance the perfomance. It will be mainly used to avoid microbial spoilage with fungi over storage. Guess the relevant dosages here will vary between 0.1 and 0.4%. But keep in mind... sodium diformate and calcium propionate may belong to the group of organic acid salts; however they are not the same! Calcium propionate has no effect on pH-change, whereas the sodium diformate is able to release formic acid and thus has a strong effect on pH, which will be helpful in high protein aquafeeds. Thus the concept of the two additives is different... Ca-propionate is protecting the feed, while sodium diformate has beneficial impacts in side the GIT of fish.

What are the human pathogenic bacteria that may pass and affect the humans after the consumption of fish fed livestock manure; or maybe you could give an explanation on what the outcome may be.

Dear Mr. Tendai,
To my understanding livestock manure in aquaculture is used to enhance the growth of natural food, like in extensive or semi-intensive pond systems. So the manure is used to feed the "system" rather than the fish itself. I would expect that bacteria which may be present in the manure will be efficiently diluted in the water, and, if taken up, killed/inactivated in the acidic part of the GIT (stomach). But I am not a microbiologist - you may ask the same question in a different forum...

Dear Dr. Christian,
I am very interested in what you have to do to use Sodium Diformate as tilapia feed additive. I want to try it as a feed additive for catfish in Jambi-Sumatera, where can I get this product? Mr. Novindo that you designate as a distributor I do not know his address. please information.

Thank you

Ediwarman