Effect of feeding frequency on the growth of GIFT (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Sharnalata Agro Fisheries Limited, Radhakanai, Fulbaria, Mymensingh by using three treatments (T1, T2, T3) and each having 2 replications for a period of 35 days in hapa system to see the growth performance of tilapia. In T1 - fish fed four times daily, T2- fed three times daily and T3 - fed two times daily. GIFT fingerlings weighing 30 ± 3.80 g were reared by feeding a formulated diet containing 32% protein (Mega 301p) feeding at the rate of 10% of the body weight of fish for the first 3 weeks and then it was adjusted to 8% of the body weight for the next 2 weeks. It was found that mean weight gain were 105.12 ± 4.60, 105.8 ± 5.23 and 108.2 ± 4.86 g respectively. The mean weight gain was not significantly different (p>0.05) among three treatments but a bit higher growth was found in T3 compared to T1 and T2. The SGR values of the experimental fish in T1, T2 and T3 were 4.32 ± 0.32, 4.34 ± 0.30 and 4.38 ± 0.28 respectively. SGR (%/day) was highest in T3 and FCR was lowest as expected. GIFT reared in hapa showed better growth performance by feeding two times daily. Many previous researches showed that maximum growth rate was obtained by feeding fish three times a day. Therefore, it can be concluded that the ambiguity of the present results with the previous works (feeding three times provided better growth) can be resolved by conducting experiments under control temperature conditions and by subsequently extrapolating that results in farm conditions especially during best growing season of the fish (June-July).