Effect of protein levels of supplementary feed on survival and growth performance of Hilsa Shad, Tenualosa ilisha (Hamilton, 1822) larvae under co-feeding condition Chattopadhyay D.N.*, Paul B.N., Mandal R.N., Adhikari S., Hussan A. Regional Research Centre, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Rahara, Kolkata-700118, India *Corresponding author: debchatto2022@gmail.com
Online Published on 24 May, 2024. Abstract Hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha, is a commercially important food fish in South Asian countries. Recently, this species has received much attention for its conservation through captive culture due to declining trend in nature. Insufficient seed is the major bottleneck for its captive culture. The objective is to identify a best dietary protein level of hilsa larvae co-fed with planktons for better survival and growth to support its culture. Eight days post hatch hilsa larvae (3.67±0.21 mm/0.36±0.00 mg) were reared for 80 days in fiberglass-reinforced plastic tanks at 250 nos./m3 in triplicates and fed with three different formulated diets as FI, F2, and F3 having 35.5, 40.5, and 45.3% crude protein (CP), along with Chlorella sp., Brachionus sp. and mixed zooplanktons. A significantly (P<0.05) higher survival, final body-length, final body-weight, daily body-length gain, daily body-weight gain and SGR in F2 (88.5%, 36.21 mm, 0.43 g, 0.41 mm, 0.01 g, and 8.96%/day) than that in F1 (69.33%, 32.1 mm, 0.31 g, 0.36 mm, 0.004 g, and 8.55%/day) and F3 (40.33%, 30.03 mm, 0.2 g, 0.33 mm, 0.003 g, and 8.02%/day) indicated that co-feeding the larvae with 40.5% dietary CP and plankton was optimum for their best survival and growth. The present findings may be useful for increased production of hilsa seed, which may support its captive culture-a way of their conservation. Top Keywords Co-feeding, Formulated diets, Growth, Hilsa larvae, Survival. Top |