A review on impacts of Choerospondias axillaris (Lapsi fruit) as supplement diet on growth performance of fish in Nepal

Abstract

Traditional Fish Meals, the ideal protein source, is now threatened globally due to economic and environmental concerns. Many research is conducted to find the alternative for fish meals and most of the research indicates that inclusion of plant products in the fish diet is cheaper, eco-friendly, enhances growth, strengthens the immune system and prevents infections of fish. Hence, addition of the plant products as fish diets can potentially replace fish meal either partially or entirely for better fish production. As lapsi fruit is rich in Vitamin-C and native to Nepal, it can be used as a sustainable plant based supplement diet in fish feed. This paper reviews the research works published on the use of Lapsi fruit as a supplement diet in different fish cultures in Nepal and explores its potential application in aquaculture production, particularly as a replacement of fish meal. Among the reviewed fishes, Tilapia has the highest weight gain (273.03%) and maximum relative % of survival (83.34%) against infection of bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila, fed fish meal supplemented with 0.2% lapsi fruit extracts.