Effects of Dietary Protein Level on Growth and Body Composition of Channel Catfish Reared in Cage

Abstract
Channel catfish fingerlings (84 g) were stocked in 1.25-m3 cages at a rate of 250 fish/cage and fed to satiety once daily with diets containing 27, 32, 37, or 42% protein for 12 weeks. The diets were similar to commercial formulations, composed of soybean meal, corn, fish meal, and vitamin and mineral supplements. The protein to energy ration (P/E) was increased by substituting soybean meal and fish meal (5:1) for corn. Fish meal constituted a fixed percentage (15%) of the total protein of the diets. Growth of channel catfish fed diets with increasing dietary protein levels was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among treatments. Average final weight, total length, survival, food conversion ratio (FCR), and specific growth rate (SGR were 312 g, 31.3 cm, 84.8%, 1.47 and 1.47%/day, respectively. Protein efficiency ratio (PER) as significantly higher (P < 0.05) for fish fed a diet containing 27% protein compared to fish fed the other three diets. Dressing percentage was not significantly different (P < 0...

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: