Journal of Applied Biosciences (J. Appl. Biosci.) [ISSN 1997 - 5902]
Volume 55: 3962 - 3972. Published July 27, 2012.
Feeding rate requirements for Parachanna obscura fry reared under controlled environmental conditions..
Diane N.S. KPOGUE, Emile D. FIOGBE
Unité de Recherches sur les Zones Humides, Département de Zoologie et Génétique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université d’Abomey - Calavi, 01 B.P. 526 Cotonou, Bénin.
Corresponding author: Diane KPOGUE: senami_diane@yahoo.fr
ABSTRACT
Objective: This work aims to estimate the optimal feeding rate for three stages of Parachanna obscura fry. Methodology and results: Fish with initial body weights 0.9, 4.1 and 9.4 g, previously habituated to a dry diet (Crude protein 45%, Crude lipid 10%, Energy Brut 18.5 Kj/g) were used. Five feeding rate were tested in triplicate for 28 days in experiments 1 and 2 and for 42 days in experiment 3. Feeding rate 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%; 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% and 0.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5% of body weight were tested respectively in experiments 1, 2 and 3. In all experiments, growth, feed efficiency and body composition were significantly influenced by feeding rate. Survival rates were not affected by feeding rate. Second order polynomial regression analysis between food rations, specific growth rate and feed efficiency indicated that optimum food rations requirement for P. obscura is approximately 8.5%, 3.6% and 2.5% for fry with initial body weight 0.9, 4.1 and 9.4 g respectively.
Conclusion and Application: These results showed that feeding rates requirements decreased with increasing of body weight. P. obscura is a hardy carnivore which can be used successfully in aquaculture.
Keywords: Parachanna obscura, fry, feeding rate, requirement, growth, feed efficiency.
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