Journal of Aquaculture Research & Development

Abstract

Evaluation of Different Animal Protein Sources in Formulating the Diets for Blue Gourami, Trichogaster Trichopterus Fingerlings

Kedar Nath Mohanta *,Sankaran Subramanian ,Veeratayya Sidweerayya Korikanthimath

Based on the nutrient requirement of blue gourami, Trichogaster trichopterus fingerlings as reported earlier, nine experimental diets with 350 g protein, 80-100 g lipid and 16-17 MJ digestible energy/kg diet were formulated using snail meat (D-1), freshwater fish processing waste (D-2), surimi by-product (D-3), chicken offal (D-4), earthworm (D-5), squid (D-6), mussel (T-7), chicken liver (T-8) and lean prawn (T-9) as major protein source in addition to fish meal and peanut oil cake and fed ad libitum to the fish (3.54 ± 0.02 g) for a period of 45 days. Twenty seven indoor circular fiber-reinforced plastic tanks with 200 L of water were used for rearing the fish. At the end of the experiment it was found that the fish fed squid meal Diet (D-6) had the best results in terms of weight gain, food conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). However, the freshwater fish processing waste (D-2) and surimi by-product (D-3) diets had almost similar (p>0.05) growth and dietary performance as that of squid, mussel, chicken liver and lean prawn meal diets and therefore, both these fish processing waste and surimi by-product could be used as non-conventional protein sources in formulating the nutritionally balanced cost-effective diets for blue gourami.