Effect of ration size on growth, body composition, and energy and protein maintenance requirement of fingerling Indian major carp, Labeo rohita (Hamilton)

Abstract

An eight-week feeding trial has been conducted to determine the optimum ration for Indian major carp, Labeo rohita, fingerling (4.10 ± 0.30 cm, 0.55 ± 0.16 g) by feeding a purified diet (40% CP; 3.61 kcal g -1 GE) at six levels, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12% of body weight per day, at 0800 and 1600 h, in triplicate, to 20 fish per trough fitted with a water flow-through system. Highest weight gain, best feed conversion ratio (FCR), best specific growth rate (SGR%), and highest protein efficiency ratio (PER) were evident for rations of 6-8% body weight. Second-degree polynomial regression analysis for FCR, PER, protein, and energy retention data indicated the break-points occurred at 6.55, 6.75, 6.80, and 6.95% bw per day, respectively. Significant (P < 0.05) differences between body composition were observed for fish fed different rations. Maximum body protein content was recorded for 6% and 8% rations. A linear increase in body fat content was evident with increasing ration.Body moisture and ash content remained nonsignificantly (P > 0.05) low for higher rations, however. On the basis of these results it is recommended that feeding in the range 6.5-7.0% bw per day corresponding to 2.6-2.8 g protein and 23.49-25.31 kcal energy per 100 g of the diet per day is optimum for growth and efficient feed utilization of Labeo rohita. Results for 2-4% rations (0.8-1.6 g protein and 7.23-14.46 kcal energy) suggest these amounts approximate to the maintenance requirement of this fish.

Response to the ration levels on growth, body composition, energy, and protein maintenance requirement of the Indian catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis—Bloch 1974)

“…Hassan and Jafri (1994) reported gradual decline in conversion efficiency in fish fed at higher ration levels in Clarias batrachus. Ahmed (2007b) also reported similar result in Indian major carp, Labeo rohita. In the present study, a similar trend in feed conversion efficiency was also noticed in H. fossilis fed at higher ration levels than optimum.…”

“…A semi-moist diet was prepared using the ingredients listed in Table 1 and cut in the form of small cubes, packed in airtight polythene bags and stored in a frost-free deep freezer at -20°C until use. The other details for the preparation of diet used in the present study is as previously lined in Ahmed (2007b). Since digestible or metabolizable energy values for the ingredients used are not available for H. fossilis, physiological fuel values of 4.5, 3.5 and 8.5 kcal g -1 for protein, carbohydrate and fat, respectively (Jauncey 1982), were utilized to calculate the energy content of the diet.…”

“…A number of publications address the potential importance for the determination of ration level in fishes with manipulated feeding regimes on the growth survival and body composition data in a number of cultured fish species in order to improve culture efficiency, and the details of these publications have been given in my previous study (Ahmed 2007b), excepting the work of Silva et al (2007); Wang et al (2007).…”

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) response to two pieces of music (“Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and “Romanza”) combined with light intensity, using recirculating water system

“…Carcass water, protein, and lipid content, liver water and lipid content, and liver and spleen size, were not affected by music transmission and are in accordance with previously reported effects of music on common carp (Papoutsoglou et al 2007). However, in the current study lower carcass ash content were observed in music-treated fish, possibly reflecting the higher body weight achieved and indicating a different flesh to skeleton ratio (Ahmed 2007). On the other hand, the current liver composition results contrast with those observed for music-treated gilthead sea bream .…”

Potential of field crickets meal (Gryllus bimaculatus) in the diet of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

“…Apart from that, feed rate could also affect body composition of fish (Ahmed 2007;Kim et al 2012). The results showed that gross body composition of fish fed with 50-100% CM inclusion level showed significantly higher crude protein content than those fed with lower inclusion of CM.…”