Bayu Prakoso Adi *
Saline tilapia (oreochrominiloticus) is one of the brackishwater commodities that began to be widely cultivated in fishery sector of Indonesia and has economic value. Lack of efficiency of feed utilization was one of the problems in saline tilapia culture. This can be overcome by the addition of exogenous enzymes that can play important role in feed digestion. One example of exogenous enzymes is the papain enzyme. Papain enzyme is a proteolytic enzyme derived from papaya that was able to break down proteins into amino acids that are easier to digest. The aims of this study were to determine the effect of papain enzyme in artificial feed and to determine the optimal dose of papain enzyme to efficiency of feed utilization, growth, and survival rate performance of saline tilapia (O. niloticus). This research was carried out at Coastal Development Laboratory, Jepara, Jawa Tengah on January – March 2018. Test fish used was an average weight of 2,35 ± 0,05g/ind. The research used experimental method by completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications. The treatments were A, B, C, D with 0g/kg pakan, 3g/kg pakan, 6g/kg pakan, and9g/kg pakan. The result showed that the addition of papain enzyme was significantly (P0,05) on survival rate (SR). The optimal dose of papain enzyme obtained was5,5 g/kg feed; 5,4 g/kg feed; 5 g/kg feed capable to produce the maximum of efficiency of feed utilization, protein efficiency ratio, and relative growth rate 63,48%, 1,75%, and 4,61%/day