Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXIII, Issue 1
Written by Aurelia NICA, Mihai-Stefan PETREA, Alina MOGODAN, Ira-Adeline SIMIONOV, Victor CRISTEA
Fish shape, size and coloration are important quality indicators for determining the market value of ornamental fish species. Therefore, ornamental carp rearing technologies must target proper values of these quality indicators, while maximizing fish growth performance and profitability. The aim of present study is to evaluate the influence of administrated food type (natural diet - V1 8.8% protein vs. formulated diet - V2 55% protein) on growth performance and coloration of Japanese ornamental carp, while maintain the feed operational cost. The average specific growth rate indicates a superior fish production at V2 (formulated diet), compared to V1 (natural diet) experimental variant, while the average food conversion ratio (FCR) indicates better values for V2 (1 g feed/g biomass gain), compared to V1 (4.5 g feed/g biomass gain). The protein efficiency ratio (PER) registered higher values at V1 (2.52), compared to V2 (1.8), most probably due to protein input limited by feed operational cost restriction. The administration of the live food indicates a better fish coloration, compared with V2, where artificial feed was administrated. Therefore, natural diet can improve coloration of juvenile ornamental carp.
[Read full article] [Citation]
