Effect of Graded Protein Levels on the Growth, Survival and Body Composition of Juvenile Osteobrama belangeri using Semi Purified Diet

Abstract

Background: Osteobrama belangeri is popularly known as pengba and was widely distributed in lakes and rivers. Protein is the most important nutrient for better growth of fish and other metabolic activities as well as covering higher cost than other nutrients. Limited information is available on the nutritional requirement of O. belangeri. The present study was conducted for determining growth, survival and body composition of O. belangeri using diets of graded protein level. Methods: The present experiment was conducted during 2016 for 40 days using 18 numbers of circular fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) tanks in six treatments in triplicate. The experiment was carried out in the wet laboratory of College of Fisheries, CAU (I), Lembucherra, Tripura. Growth performance, survival, feed utilization performance and fish carcass composition were analyzed after completion of the experiment. Result: The investigation suggests that the optimum dietary protein level of 25% gives the best performance in terms of growth, survival, feed utilization and whole-body carcass composition of O. belangeri. From the broken-line analysis on specific growth rate and mean weight gain, the best dietary protein level for O. belangeri is 24.39 to 24.88%. The present work will be useful for formulation of a cost effective diet for pengba for aquaculture.