Optimizing protein and lipid levels in practical diet for juvenile northern snakehead fish (Channa argus)

Abstract

A 3 × 3 factorial feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the production response of juvenile northern snakehead fish (Channa argus). Nine diets containing 3 protein levels (45%, 48% and 51%) and 3 lipid levels (9%, 12% and 15%) were formulated and fed to triplicate groups of juvenile northern snakehead (15.78 ± 0.09 g/fish) for 8 weeks. The formulated diets were named as P45L9, P45L12, P45L15, P48L9, P48L12, P48L15, P51L9, P51L12 and P51L15 (P-Protein, L-Lipid), respectively. Fish fed diets with the lowest protein and lipid combination (P45L9) had the lowest growth performance. Weight gains (WG) of fish fed the 4 diets P48L12, P48L15, P51L9, and P51L12 were not significantly different (P > 0.05), but significantly higher (P 0.05) by dietary treatments. Based on these results, the diet containing 48% protein with either 12% or 15% lipid is the optimal for supporting growth and feed utilization of juvenile northern snakehead under the current testing conditions.

Keywords

• Channa argus
• Growth
• Protein
• Lipid
• Diet