Vol. 13, Issue 11 (2024)

Author(s):
Gobinda Prasad Pradhan, Nabakishor Sial, Ganesh Chandra Kund, Sushanta Kumar Patra and Arddhendu Sekhar Mohanty

Abstract:
Four experimental diets with different incorporation levels of shrimp head meal (0%, 1%, 3% and 5% as T₀, T₁, T₂ and T₃ respectively) were tested as feed attractant in GIFT tilapia in order to determine the suitable incorporation level. The feeds with 35% protein level were prepared manually by using locally available ingredients. The experiment was conducted in triplicate following the statistical tools “completely randomized design”. The fishes measuring mean length of 3.56±0.04 cm and the weight of 1.049±0.022 g were randomly distributed in 12 FRP tanks of 200 L water capacity at stocking rate of 10 individuals per tank. It was recorded that the values of water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, hardness and ammonia nitrogen were within the optimal range of GIFT tilapia culture. In the control diet the fishes were measured with lower growth response with mean body weight of 17.28 g after 90 days of culture and the higher mean body weight (21.65 g) was recorded in T₃ (5% SHM). The weight gain of fishes between the control and treatments varied significantly (p<0.05). Feed conversion ratios of different experimental groups followed inverse trend with growth response of fishes with the highest and lowest values were observed in T₀ (2.33) and T₃ (2.07), respectively. Highest survival rate (96.67%) was observed in group fed with 5% followed by 93.33% in 3% fed group, 90% in 1% fed group and 83.33% in control group. Therefore, the incorporation of shrimp head meal (SHM) as a feed attractant in the diet at the rate of 5% is observed to be best among all treatment groups with respect to growth, feed utilization and survival of GIFT tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).