Effect of plant-fishmeal and plant by-product based feed on growth, body composition and organoleptic flesh qualities of Labeo rohita.

Abstract

Present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of plant-fishmeal feed and/or plant by-product based feed on growth, body composition and flesh quality of Labeo rohita. Fish fed on rice polish alone served as control (T0). Fish feed ingredients were grouped together with two ingredients in each test diet i.e. guar meal and canola meal (T1), soybean meal and cotton seed meal (T2), guar meal and cotton seed meal (T3), soybean meal and canola meal (T4) and fishmeal and canola meal (T5). Each treatment including control had two replicates. Earthen ponds (12) with uniform area of 0.03 ha each, were randomly stocked with 100 fish (average weight 200 g) in each. All the ponds were then randomly allotted to individual treatment including control and were fed at 4% of their wet biomass twice a day. Significantly higher growth performance, specific growth rate (SGR) and better food conversion ratio (FCR) in T3 and T1 than rest of the treatments suggested that guar meal and cotton seed meal, and guar meal and canola meal are better option to include in future feed formulations for maximum performance and minimum feed wastage. Fish samples showed higher protein values in T4, fat in T2, moisture contents in control, dry matter in T1 and ash in T5. Non- significant differences in flavor, juiciness, and oiliness indicated that the sensory attributes of fish flesh were not affected by feeding fish with blend of various ingredients. Our study revealed that the cotton seed meal which is considered toxic to fish and is restricted in fish feeds perform equally good and can be incorporated in future feed formulations for Labeo rohita.