Dietary Protein Requirement of Labeo bata Fry Paul B.N.*, Datta A.K., Giri S.S.1, Mohanty S.N.1 Wastewater Aquaculture Division, Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Rahara, Kolkata-700 118, India. *Reprint request: Dr. B.N. Paul, E-mail: bnp63@yahoo.co.in
1Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar-751 002, India. Abstract A 60-day experiment was conducted to study on the protein requirement of Labeo bata fry (Average Weight 0.23 g). Three purified diets were prepared using casein, gelatin, dextrin, carboxymethyl cellulose, vegetable oil and vitamin-mineral premix, with three different levels of protein (CP) viz, D-1 (24.85%), D-2 (29.70%) and D-3 (35.10%). The net weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of L. bata fry fed with different levels of protein were 1.74±0.08, 2.02±0.04 and 2.17±0.09 (g); 1.97±0.11, 1.71±0.04 and 1.67±0.02, respectively, for D-1 to D-3. Results indicated that the growth performance was significantly higher (P<0.01) in D-2 and D-3 groups compared to that of D-1. It was further observed that the FCR was significantly lower in D-2 and D-3 than D-1. Carcass protein and lipid percentage were also increased significantly (P<0.01) with the diet of higher protein level. It may be concluded from the present experiment that the best growth performance in L. bata was observed with a dietary protein level of 29.70%. Top Keywords Growth, Feed conversion ratio, Labeo bata, Protein requirement, Carcass composition. Top |