Improving Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) Utilization with Sodium Butyrate in Nile Tilapia Diets: Effects on Growth Performance, Intestinal Histology, Antioxidative Response, and Blood Biomarkers

Table 5

Blood biochemical indices of Nile tilapia fed test diets for 60 days.

	ALT (U/L)	AST (U/L)	Total protein (g/dL)	Albumin (g/dL)	Globulin (g/dL)	Creatinine (mg/dL)	T-CHO (mg/dL)	TG (mg/dL)
Fish meal	18.39	22.13	4.51^b	1.50	3.01^b	0.26	69.04	92.70
Fish meal + SB	15.16	19.91	4.89^a	1.60	3.29^a	0.26	89.68	101.34
Tenebrio molitor	21.85	24.53	4.22^c	1.58	2.64^c	0.31	90.71	105.71
Tenebrio molitor + SB	20.36	17.42	4.81^a	1.58	3.22^a	0.28	76.91	99.76
Pooled SE	0.97	1.09	0.11	0.03	0.09	0.01	3.70	1.86
Main effect
Protein source
Fish meal	16.78	21.02	4.70	1.55	3.15	0.26	79.36	97.02
Tenebrio molitor		20.98	4.51	1.58	2.93
Sodium butyrate (SB)
─SB	20.12	23.33^#	4.55	1.59	2.96	0.29	79.88	99.21
+SB	17.76	18.67	4.66	1.54	3.12	0.27	83.29	100.55
Two-way ANOVA (P-value)
Protein source	0.017	0.982	0.279	0.632	0.129	0.035	0.009	0.030
SB	0.142	0.029	0.535	0.469	0.272	0.428	0.576	0.650
Protein source × SB	0.565	0.201	0.017	0.440	0.010	0.428	0.119	0.134

Values are an average of three replicates. Different letters indicate significant differences () between dietary protein sources (fish meal or T. molitor meal) and sodium butyrate by Tukey’s test when significant interactions are seen at (). However, in case of nonsignificant interactions at () between the main effects, the symbols of () and (^#) are used to refer to the significances between dietary protein sources (fish meal or T. molitor meal) or sodium butyrate, respectively by t-test at (). ALT: alanine aminotransferase, AST: aspartate aminotransferase, T-CHO: total cholesterol, TG: triglycerides.