Effect of fish meal substitution with lima bean meal on growth and feed utilization in common carp fry, Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in an earthen pond in the west region of Cameroon to investigate the level of replacing fish meal (FM) with lima bean meal (LBM) on zootechnic parameters in common carp fry. Four hundred and fifty fish weighing 0.91±0.03 g were divided into five groups of 90 fish each. In control group (LBM-0), fish received normal feed, while in four experimental groups, FM was replaced with LBM at 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% corresponding to LBM-10, LBM-20, LBM-30 and LBM-40. Fish were fed three times daily for 84 days. Every 14 days, fish were harvested for weight determination. The results obtained showed significant increases in weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR). After 84 days of feeding, fish fed in LBM-40 showed a WG of 6.47 ± 0.48 g and SGR of 2.70 ± 0.11%/d compared to LBM-0 (WG=3.52 ± 0.17 g and SGR=1.95 ± 0.08%/d), corresponding to a significant increases of 58.27% and 27.77% respectively. Concerning feed utilisation, LBM-10 produced the greatest effect with the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR=0.71±0.05) and the highest protein efficiency ratio (PER=3.54±0.26) compared to LBM-0 (FCR=1.09±0.12 and PER=2.36 ± 0.25). These results showed that FM substitution with LBM improves growth and feed utilization in Cyprinus carpio fry.