EFFECT OF VARIOUS PROTEIN FEEDS ON THE GROWTH, BODY COMPOSITION, HEMATOLOGY AND ENDOGENOUS ENZYMES OF CATFISH (PANGASIUS HYPOPHTHALMUS)

Noor Khan*
*Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore-Pakistan. Email: noorkhan@uvas.edu.pk

 

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of various concentrations of crude protein on the growth, body composition, hematology, and endogenous enzymes of catfish, Pangasius hypophthalmus. The trial was carried out in HAPAS (10 x 10 x 5 feet) for 90-days. Fish was fed at 3% of wet body weight twice daily with the experimental feeds having crude protein (CP) levels 44% (T1), 35% (T2), and 40% (T3), each having three replicates. Fish fed on 40% protein feed (T3) showed significantly (P<0.05) higher growth (1378.57±53.20g) compared to T2 and T1. The percent weight gain was also highest in T3 (718.81±43.27) followed by T2 (69.83±10.83) and T1 (61.69±1.41). The FCR of fish in T3 was significantly lower (2.51±0.095) than T1 (4.00±0.06) and T2 (3.75±0.42). Proximate analysis values remained uniform among treatments.  Concentration of amylase were significantly higher (P≤ 0.05) in T1 and T2 than T3 while phytase and lipase enzymes showed non-significant differences among all the treatments. Values of Alanine aminotranspherase (ALT) and Aspartate aminotranspherase (AST) in blood of P. hypophthalmus increased with where 35%-40% protein was present. The overall performance of fish fed 40% CP feed remained significantly better with no adverse effects on nutritional value of fish.

Keywords: Artificial feed, growth, body composition, digestive enzymes, hematology, Pangasius hypophthalmus