EFFECTS OF PROBIOTICS (Bacillus sp.) ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF JUVENILE ORANGE SPOTTED GROUPER (Epinephelus coioides)

The present study conducted was to investigate the effect of probiotics (Bacillus sp.) on the growth performance of juvenile orange spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides). Probiotic (Bacillus sp.) of different concentration; 106 (T1) and 107 (T2) CFU/ml was sprayed on the feed, while a control (C) group was fed no probiotics. A total of 60 juvenile orange spotted grouper were used in this experiment. Each treatment had 3 replicates and each replicate contained 10 juveniles. The experiment was conducted for 31 days. The feed was given by calculation 3% of body weight of the grouper each week and the fish were fed 3 times a day. As for the result, neither T1 nor T2 treatments showed any significant improvement in the growth performance of the grouper when compared the control group. In T1, there is a significant difference in Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) only when compared with the control group. In this study, control showed better growth performance result may be caused by the insufficient concentration of probiotics in diets of juvenile Epinephelus coioides. Lastly, no mortality rate was recorded in this study. Overall, the inclusion of 106 and 107 CFU/ml of probiotic (Bacillus sp.) did not give desirable results towards growth performance of juvenile Epinephelus coioides and should be retested with a higher dosage.