Preliminary Studies on the Essential Amino Acid Requirements of the Pearlspot, Etroplus suratensis

Abstract

Three groups or juvenile pearlspot, Etroplus suratensis, were fed a formulated reed (CP:31.5%) containing fish meal, groundnut cake, wheat bran, tapioca powder, vitamins and minerals over 20 d. An attempt was made to determine the essential amino acid (EM) requirement of pearlspot by calculating the daily EM increment of the fish red with the diet. The EM requirement profile expressed as percentage of dietary protein is 3.4% arginine, 2.1 % histidine, 1.4% isoleucine, 3.5% leucine, 9.7% lysine, 2.0% methionine, 2.2% phenyl alanine, 3.0% threonine, 2.2% tryptophan and 2.1% valine.