Effect of Spirulina meal as feed additive on growth performance and body composition of climbing perch

Abstract

An experiment on culture of climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) in plastic tanks was conducted to assess the effect of Spirulina meal as feed additive on growth performance and body composition of 20 days old koi (Anabas testudineus) fry in intensive culture of this fish .The experiment was carried out in Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka for a duration of 75 days in re-circulating system with 2 treatment in 6 tanks containing 500 L of water each. 20 fry were stocked per tank. The initial weight was 1.57 ± 0.5g for Diet I (Prepared by wheat flour, corn meal, soyabean meal and fish meal) and 1.84±0.05 g for the DietII (Spirulina meal). Initial length for both groups was 4.01cm and was feed with two types of feeds.There are three replicas for each group. At the end of the experiment average weight of koi was 15.01g.. The feeds were applied twice a day at the rate of 6% (initially) to 4% (later on) of the body weight of the fry/day. Due to presence of Spirulinafish meal, soybean meal, wheat flour and corn meal, Diet II was proved to be the best proteinacous. The results showed that the growth of fry varied significantly (P<0.05) with different diets. The higher growth and lower FCR were found in the trial where fishes were fed on Spirulina meal containing 56.23% followed byDiet II. Specific growth rate and mean body weight were higher in fish fed with Spirulinameal. The poorer growth rate was shown by Diet-I containing 31.12% protein. Change in growth and feed utilization by the koi fish fed on two types of fish feed during the rearing and feeding trial have been assessed by the determination of specific growth rate (SGR%), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed efficiency and average daily gain (ADG) etc.There was no significant difference in survival rates among the fry fed with Spirulina and formulated diets. The better FCR was found (1.10±0.105) in T2 (Diet II containing Spirulina as a feed additive).This might be due to the attractive appearance, color, taste, flavor and good quality nutrient composition of the experimental diets. Results also showed thataddition of Spirulina in the formulated feedhas profound effect on the PER, ADG, SGR of A. testudineus. Results of the current study suggest that supplementation fish feed with 56.23% protein level has significantly positive effect on the growth performance and body composition of A. testudineus. The experiment suggest that Diet-II (Spirulinameal) can be recommended for the augmentation of growth and feed utilization in intensive culture of A. testudineus.