Growth Performance of Fingerlings of the Indian Major Carp, Catla catla (Ham.) Fed with Feeds Supplemented with Different Seaweeds

The growth performance of indian major carp (catla catla, ham.) was assessed over a period of six months through formulated feeds consisting of three seaweeds, namely chlorodesmis fastigiata, padina tetrastomatica and stoechospermum marginatum. a relatively slow average growth rate (6.48 g/month) in fishes was observed in the control group. meanwhile, the maximum and rapid growth rate (13.38 g/month) was observed with feed-a supplemented with c. fastigiata. similarly, a comparable growth rate was also observed with feed-b (11.56 g/month) with p. tetrastomatica. however, the growth rate in fishes was relatively lower (9.05 g/month) with feed-c containing seaweed s. marginatum. the growth rate in each month was also compared. the maximum attainable growth rate was found to be 12 g in the control group, whereas this was 30 g with feed-a. the attainable growth was 20 g and 15 g with feed-b and feed-c, respectively. in the control group, the maximum increments in weight was recorded in the third (september) and fifth (november) months of rearing, and the increment was considerably reduced after that. the maximum increment in weight was in the second month (august) with feed-a, and this was followed by a considerable decrease in subsequent months. a similar trend was observed with feed-b and feed-c. the biochemical composition of all the four feeds used in the present study showed approximately the same protein (0.45-0.50 mg/ml) and lipid contents (0.6 mg/ml). carbohydrate was the only parameter which showed a relatively significant effect (p<0.05) on the growth rate (0.107 mg/ml). the average food conversion ratio (fcr) calculated for all the different feeds showed the maximum value with control (2.54+2.72),followed by feed-c (1.77+1.54) and feed-b (0.67+0.13). meanwhile, the minimum value of fcr was obtained with feed-a (0.57+0.39) indicating its high efficiency. the data of the present study clearly demonstrated that seaweeds, such as c. fastigiata and p. tetrastomatica, could be used in commercial formulated feed to get better growth of the fingerlings of major carps.