Effects of partial replacement of dietary fishmeal using plant-protein sources on the growth performance, coloration and liver histology of guppy fry (poecilia reticulata) in outdoor farming conditions

ABSTRACT

A six-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing fish meal (FM) in diets for guppy (Poecilia reticulata) fry reared in outdoor farming conditions. Four experimental diets—control (CD) (30% FM), SP (10% sweet potato leaf meal), JS (3% jackfruit seed meal), and SS (10% sesame seed meal)—were fed to guppy fry (1.91 ± 0.23 cm; 0.07 ± 0.14 g). Final body length and weight (3.69 + 0.12 cm; 0.55 + 0.07 g) and hepatosomatic index (3.53 + 1.64) were significantly higher in fish fed the SS diet. The SP diet resulted in low growth, low SGR (4.24 + 0.16), and poor FCR (3.54 + 0.32). Total tissue carotenoid content was significantly higher in the SP and JS treatments. The present study indicates that tested plant ingredients can be used to replace FM in diets for guppy, and sesame seed meal-based feed formulation can be used as a low-cost feed formulation for practical diets for guppy reared in outdoor farming condition.

KEYWORDS:

• Fish meal
• guppy
• growth performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the UGC Block Grant for strengthening research—2016 project of University of Ruhuna (RU/PG-R/16/10).