Evaluation of pepsin derived tilapia fish waste protein hydrolysate as a feed ingredient for silver pompano (Trachinotus blochii) fingerlings: Influence on growth, metabolism, immune and disease resistance

[Display omitted] •Tilapia processing waste is a potential source for production of protein hydrolysates (FPH).•FPH improved the growth performance of Silver Pompano fingerlings.•Inclusion of FPH in the diet enhanced the innate immunity.•Supplementation of FPH increased disease resistance against Vibrio anguillarum.•FPH can be used as a bio-functional ingredient in aqua feed. Fish protein hydrolysate (FPH) has gained importance in recent times due to its growth and health promoting properties. Forty days feeding trial was carried out to study the effect of FPH prepared from tilapia fish processing waste (TFW) on growth, metabolism, immunity and resistance against bacterial infection induced by Vibrio anguillarum in silver pompano (Trachinotus blochii) fingerlings. During the study, fishes were fed practical diets containing 0, 30, 60 and 90 g/kg tilapia protein hydrolysate (TPH) at 70 g/kg body weight per day initially which was gradually reduced to 30 g/kg. Animals fed with 90 g/kg tilapia protein hydrolysate in diet showed significantly (P