Performances of Green Seaweed Enteromorpha intestinalis, Salt-marsh grass Porteresia coarctata and Mangrove litter as Prawn feed Ingredients

摘要

Three experimental feeds were formulat ed by reducing fishmeal at a level of 5%, incorporated with selected ingredients like green seaweed, Enteromorpha intestinalis (referred as ENT feed); salt - marsh grass, Porteresia coarctata (referred as POT feed) and mangrove litter (referred as ML feed). Juvenile prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii were exposed to the feeds of floral origin during the experimental trial and performances were evaluated in terms of growth characteristics and muscle protein content. Incorporation of E. intestinalis in the formu lated feed resulted in significantly higher (p.01) average body weight (80.48 gm), condition factor (1.30), specific growth rate (1.45% day - 1 ), feed conversion ratio (1.76) and survival (68.19%) as confirmed through ANOVA. Length - weight relationship vari ed significantly (p.01) thus exhibiting isometric growth (b= 3.008) in prawns treated with ENT feed as compared to others where allometric growth pattern was observed. Muscle protein content also reflected similar pattern with significantly greater (p 0.01) in the group of prawns treated with ENT feed. The present study thus confirms the suitability of the particular seaweed species for its incorporation in the formulated prawn feed.