Evaluation of growth response and body composition of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss fingerlings fed diets containing low cost locally available feed ingredients

Abstract

High cost of fish meal for fish feed formulation is a major constraint to the growth of aquaculture. Dearth of information on suitable alternatives to fish feed ingredients persists. A growth trial for a period of 120 days was conducted to study the effect of various locally available protein sources as replacers of fish meal in the diet of rainbow trout fingerlings. Fingerlings of mean weight 7 g were subjected to various treatments with three replicates using a Completely Randomized Design and were fed with various protein sources derived from locally available feed ingredients. On the basis of observed growth rate, Feed Conversion Ratio and Protein Efficiency Ratio, diets T1 (50% Fish Meal + 50% Gammarus powder) and T2 (50% Fish Meal + 50% Silkworm Pupae Meal) produced significantly best growth while the diet T8 (100% lentils + Silkworm waste) produced the lowest. The body composition also differed significantly with the highest protein and lipid deposition recorded in T1 (16.64±0.00882%) and T7 (9.27±0.00882%) respectively.