Effect of fish meal replacement with chicken viscera meal on growth performance, haematology and intestinal histology of Sperata seenghala fingerlings

A feeding trial of 90 days was conducted to illustrate the effect of fish meal replacement with chicken viscera meal (CVM) at varying levels on the growth and haematological parameters of Sperata seenghala fingerlings. About 360 S. seenghala fingerlings (initial wt 9.2±0.4 g) were randomly distributed into 12 cemented cisterns for each treatment groups in triplicates with 30 fish in each cistern following a completely randomized design (CRD). Four isocaloric (360 kcal/100g) and isonitrogenous (36% crude protein) diets were prepared replacing fish meal with chicken viscera meal (CVM) at 0 (CVM0), 30 (CVM30), 50 (CVM50) and 75% (CVM75) and fed to the experimental groups. After 90 days of feeding trial, the final weight (g), weight gain (%), specific growth rate and protein efficiency ratio were significantly higher (P<0.05) with significantly lower (P<0.05) food conversion ratio in the CVM30 group than that of CVM50 and CVM75 groups. No significant (P>0.05) variations were observed for haematological parameters such as red blood cells count, white blood cells count and haemoglobin content among all the treatment groups. Higher level of CVM above 30% in the diet did alter the histological structure of intestine having fusion of villi with elongation of the mucosal folds and increased number of mononuclear cells. It may be concluded that 30% of dietary fish meal can be replaced by chicken viscera meal in the diet of S. seenghala fingerlings without compromising growth performance and health status.