Effect of dietary Chinese tea on growth performance, disease resistance and muscle fatty acid profile of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

Six types of Chinese tea were incorporated into diets at four different levels (0, 1, 2 and 4 %) in order to determine their effects on the growth performance, fatty acid composition of muscle lipids and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila infection of Ictalurus punctatus (channel catfish) fingerlings. Each diet was fed to catfish in triplicate tanks for 8 weeks. Results show that a 1 % Dragon Well tea (DWT) and Maofeng tea were significantly better than other diets (including the control) in improving weight gain (WG) and feed conversion rate (FCR) of fish; while the 4 % DWT increased FCR ( P