Enriched Conventional Feed for Indian Major Carps

Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA)
Dhauli, Kausalyagang, Bhubaneshwar

NETWORK OF AQUACULTURE CENTRES IN ASIA
BANGKOK, THAILAND

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ENRICHED CONVENTIONAL FEED FOR INDIAN MAJOR CARPS

S. N. Mohanty and D. N. Swamy

Freshwater Aquaculture Research and Training Centre
(CIFRI). Kausalyagang, Via Bhubaneswar - 751002 Orissa, INDIA

ABSTRACT

The conventional fish feed comprising a 1:1 mixture of groundnut oil cake and rice bran by weight was enriched by incorporation of an aquatic weed, (Salvinia sp.) powder, bloodmeal and sugar wastes and two test diets were prepared with a protein level of 28 – 29%. Diet a comprised bloodmeal, rice bran and groundnut oil cake (1:3:6) while diet B. groundnut oil cake. Salvinia powder and sugar wastes (8:1:1). All the experimental diets were fortified with vitamins and minerals.

The two diets were tested against the conventional feed mixture in a laboratory trial-run of 60 days on fry (0.49 g average weight) of Labeo rohita (Ham..). The significant growth performance ( p 0.01) was observed in the feed with bloodmeal (0.8 g average live weight gain at a specific growth rate of 1.75% of body weight/day) as compared to the other two diets (0.45 g average live weight gain at a specific growth rate of 0.97% of body weight/day for the diet incorporating aquatic weed, salvinia sp. and sugar wastes (diet B) and 0.44 g average live weight gain at a specific growth rate of 1.08% of body weight/day for the conventional feed mixture).

INTRODUCTION

Supplementary feed constitutes a major input in the present day aquaculture practices. Since animal protein sources are expensive, the need for reasonable substitutes is paramount. With a view to utilizing locally available, cheap alternate sources of both plant and animal origin especially those unsuitable for direct human consumption, for evolving acceptable diets, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the bloodmeal blend as a partial or complete substitute for fish meal and Salvinia sp., an aquatic weed, fortified with sugar wastes for rice bran.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

The experiments were conducted during November, 1984 - January 1985. Acclimatised rohu fry were randomly selected and introduced into plastic pools of 59.5 cm (h) × 90cm (d), filled with 150 1 of water after ensuring complete evacuation of food in their guts by starving the fishes for 24 hours. Each treatment had three replicates with ten fry in each pool. While the emperature varied from 29.8°C to 34.0°C, the oxygen level of water was maintained at 9.0 ppm. by using aerators. The experimental fish were fed once a day at 10% of their body weight and the water in the plastic pools was changed on alternate days.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the feeding trial are presented in Table 1. The fish fed the diet enriched with bloodmeal (diet A) exhibited the maximum average weight gain (0.8 g) and the specific growth rate (1.75%, Two way analysis of variance (Table II) indicated significant growth differences between the fish fed different diets on 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days (P 0.01). The relative poor performance was observed with the diet incorporating Salvinia powder and sugar wastes (diet B) and also the conventional feed mixture (diet C).

Though both the test diets, A and B, were isonitrogencus, the better performance of diet A may be due to easy digestibility of bloodmeal (FAO, 1983) and availability of all essential amino acids (Dupree and Halver, 1970) resulting in higher protein deposition in flesh of the fry (23.27%). The superiority of bloodmeal as a feed component has also been reported for channel catfish (Reece et. al., 1975); and salmon (Fowler and Banks as reported by FAO, 1983).

The absence of essential amino acids, the lower digestibility of plant protein and the high percentage of carbohydrate in the diet B may be the causes for its poor performance. Further, since a large proportion of carbohydrate reduces the digestibility (Maynard, 1947), the protein deposition was also low (21.82%) in the flesh of rohu fry fed with this diet.

The above findings indicate the utilisation of inexpensive bloodmeal as a partial or complete substitute for castly fish meal in commercial rations for the Indian major carps.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr. A.V. Natarajan, Director, Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, for his keen interest in the work and Dr. V.R.P. Sinha, National Project Director, UNDP/FAO Project and Head, Freshwater Aquaculture Research and Training Centre (CIFRI), Kausalyagang, for providing necessary facilities. They are thankful to Mr. S.D. Tripathi and Mr. N.G.S. Rao, Senior Scientists of the Centre for their helpful suggestions.

REFERENCES

AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists), 1970. Official Methods of Analysis, Edited by W. Horowitx, P. Chichilo and H. Reynolds (Washington, DC); 1015 pp.

Dupree, H.K. and J.E. Halver., 1970. Aminoacids essential for the growth of Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 99 (1) : 90–92.

FAO, 1983. Fish feeds and feeding in developing countries -- An interim report on the ADCP Feed Development Programme. ADCP/REP/83/18: 97 pp.

Maynard, Leonard A. 1947. Animal Nutrition (Second ed.). Mc Graw Hill Book Co. INC., New York and London: 494 pp.

Oser, Bernard L. 1965. Hawk's Physiological Chemistry edited by Bernard L. Oser (Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., Bombay-New Delhi) : 1472 pp.

Reece David L., David E. Wesley, Gerry A. Jackson and Harry K. Dupree. 1975. A boodmeal - rumen contents blend as a partial of complets substitute for fish meal in Channel cat-fish diets. The Progressive Fishculturist, 37(1), January : 15–19.

Table 1. Average initial and final body weight, live weight gain, specific growth rate of rohu fry fed different diets.

* Expressed as a percentage of body weight per day.

Table II. Two way analysis of variance among the average live weight gains of rohu fry fed different experimental diets.

* Highly significant

Table III. The proximate composition of diets* fed to rohu fry

* Moisture content expressed as percentage of fresh diet. Protein, fat, carbohydrate as percentage of dry weight of diet.