The present experiment was carried with the objective to evaluate the Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) as probiotic in rations for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings submitted to a sanitary challenge. A total of 60 fingerlings with 30 days old, weighing 0.45 ± 0.02 g and 3.10 ± 0.14 cm were distributed to a completely randomized design with two treatments and six replications in 12 aquariums of 50 L. As a sanitary challenged each aquarium daily received, during the experimental period, an equivalent of 0.5 mL fresh swine manure. The treatments consisted of a ration with (0.1% SC) or without probiotic. At the end of the experiment the fingerlings were counted, measured and weighed. The intestines from two fingerlings randomly chosen were also removed and weighed per each treatment. Content of the intestines was submitted to a counting of the number of total bacteria and total coliformes presents. Performance and survival was not influenced by the inclusion of SC in the diet. The SC colonized the intestine of fingerlings fed with SC diet and was not observed in that fed with diets without probiotic. No differences were observed for the number of bacteria and total coliformes per g of intestinal content and per mL of water of the aquariums. The use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as probiotic in rations of fingerlings of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) promoted the colonization of the intestine of the fishes, however, no influenced the productive performance and survival in a culture system with sanitary challenge.
additive; yeast; fish nutrition; growth promoter
