Silkworm Pupa Oil and Sardine Oil as an Additional Energy Source in the Diet of Common Carp, Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

A 90-day field experiment was conducted on common carp, Cyprinus carpio to study the usefulness of silkworm pupa oil as an energy source in comparison with sardine oil. Dietary administration of three levels of pupa oil and sardine oil, viz., 3, 6 and 9% was used to enrich a fishmeal based diet while a diet without oil enrichment served as control. Fish growth increased significantly with the increasing level of both pupa and sardine oils, while the control diet led to the lowest growth. There was no significant difference in the final mean weights attained under pupa and sardine oil treatments at the same level of incorporation. Specific growth rate,feed gain ratio, and biomass production improved significantly with increasing level of oil incorporation. The percentage increase in biomass as compared to control was nearly 50% at 9% addition of either oils. Organoleptic evaluation showed no adverse effect of oils on the flesh quality. The study demonstrated not only the usefulness of pupa oil, which is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (n-3), as an equally potent energy source as sardine oil, but also the possibility of using additional fat in the diet to economically promote carp growth.