Effectiveness of Spirulina Meal in Enhancing Platy Fish (Xiphophorus maculatus)

Abstract

This study was to determine the effectiveness of adding spirulina meal in increasing the color of platy fish and to determine the right dose of spirulina in feed on the intensity of the color of platy fish. The study was conducted in the maintenance activities at the Production and Reproduction Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Mataram University and used the Completely Randomized Design (CRD) method, experiments, with 4 treatments and 3 repetitions. In P1 (100% control feed), P2 (99% feed + 1% spirulina meal), P3 (97% feed + 3% spirulina meal) and P4 (95% feed + 5% spirulina meal). The commercial feed used was in the form of powder mixed with spirulina meal according to the treatment. The fish used were platy fish seeds with a length of 1-2 cm. Observations of carotenoids on feed were carried out before feeding the test fish. The brightness level of the platy fish skin was measured on days 0, 15, 30 and 45, as many as 3 fish in each treatment using a colourimeter. The level of color brightness, lightness, redness, yellowness, hue and chroma based on the day and dose of ANOVA results showed that feeding with the addition of different spirulina meal had a significant effect (P<0.05) on the level of color brightness, the growth rate of platy fish, while the survival rate of platy fish had no significant effect. Conclusion this experimentadding 3% spirulina meal with a maintenance period of 30 days can improve the color of platy fishwith a Lightness (L*) value of 47.26, Redness (a*) of 24.63, Yellowness (b*) of 24.90, Hue of 61.77 and Chroma value of 44.77 with a carotenoid content of 15.56 µmol/l. The use of spirulina meal in feed for platy fish produces a survival rate of over 90%.