Abstract. The applicability of mixed feeding schedules using low‐and high‐protein diets was evaluated by three on‐farm field trials conducted in fertilized earthen ponds. Rohu, Labeo rohita (Hamilton), and common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., were used in the first two trials, and catla. Catla catla (Hamilton‐Buchanan), was also included in the third trial. The concept of a mixed feeding schedule was tested using a 1:1 rice bran‐groundnut meal cake mixture, a commonly used feed in Indian carp culture. In a mixed feeding schedule, two feeds are used alternately, each for a predetermined number of days. In the present study, one of three such mixed feeding schedules was used in conjunction with one of two control diets. The control diets were rice bran (diet A) or a mixture of rice bran‐groundnut meal cake (diet B). The mixed feeding schedules tested were: 1A/1B, 1A/2B and 1A/3B (numerals indicate number of days diet A or B was offered continuously). Diet A (rice bran only) induced significantly poor growth in all treatments. Interestingly, growth in the mixed feeding schedules was generally equal or superior to that when fish were fed with diet B. Growth efficiency indicators such as SGR. FCR and PER were found to be good for fish maintained on certain mixed schedules. Savings of 15–31% protein and 10–20% of the feed cost were achieved with the various schedules, the highest saving being achieved with the 1A/1B schedule. Nitrogen retention was higher in fish treated with mixed schedules. The results demonstrated the usefulness of mixed schedules in reducing nitrogen input, output and feed costs.

Diel feeding patterns and daily food rations of five cyprinids Amblypharyngodon melettinus, Barbus chola, B. dorsalis, B. filamentosus and Rasbora daniconius in two Sri Lankan reservoirs were studied based on diel surveys using an iterative method, MAXIMS. A. melettinus and B. chola had single peaks of feeding whereas diel feeding patterns with two peaks occurred in the other three species. Daily food rations varied seasonally and with size of fish. The iterative technique used is reliably applicable for quantifying daily rations, and provides a means of linking trophic levels in natural populations of fish. 1996 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles