Indian Journal of Animal Research

Freshwater Asian catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (pangas) is one of the fastest growing exotic species throughout world including India. Most recently, it has been considered as a potential candidate species for carp diversification especially in northern states of India including Punjab and Haryana. In Pangas culture, fish meal is used as primary protein source pertaining to its excellent amino acid profile, palatability and high nutritive value. However, due to continuously rising cost, limited availability and quality variations of fish meal, there is need to find out less expensive alternative quality protein sources. Among these, fish silage is easy to prepare product with high nutritional value and shelf life. In this view, the experimental study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of replacing fish meal with fish silage supplemented diets on growth and health status of Pangas catfish.

Indoor study was conducted in FRP pools (1.5×1×0.75m) for 120 days (July - October 2018) to evaluate the effect of acid fermented fish silage (prepared from fish waste collected from local fish market of Ludhiana, Punjab) for Pangas catfish fry. To study the effect of fish silage, four experimental diets were formulated by replacing fishmeal @ 50% and 100% and mixture of soybean and groundnut meal @ 25% and 50% levels from control diet along with one reference diet without any animal protein source (neither fish meal nor fish silage).

The overall results of present study revealed that fish silage can be incorporated (100% replacement of fish meal with fish silage) in the diet of Pangas catfish fry (P. hypophthalmus) with improved growth and feed utilization along with positive influence on health status of fish in terms of general haematology, biochemistry and anti-oxidant status.