A Survey of the Nutrient Composition of Some Commercial Fish Feeds Available in Bangladesh

Abstract

A study was undertaken to analyse and compare the nutrient content of some commercial fish feeds available in Bangladesh through chemical analysis. The commercial fish feeds collected from the markets were Quality Feeds Ltd. (QF), Aftab Feed Products Ltd. (AF), Saudi-Bangla Fish Feed Ltd. (SBF), Paragon Feeds Ltd. (PF) and AIT Feeds Ltd. (AIT). Proximate composition such as moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, ash, fibre and NFE (nitrogen free extract), and some of the macro minerals such as Ca, P, Na, K and S were analysed. In general, there was no large variation between analysed and company declared nutrient contents of different feeds except the protein and lipid content of some feeds. However, two pangas feeds such as Surovi (nursery and grower) of QF had much lower protein content (27.57% and 20.24%) compared to 32% and 25% protein value respectively declared by the company. Similarly, large (more than 5%) differences between the analysed and company declared protein content was observed in case of carp starter and grower feeds of QF. On the other hand, analysed protein content of all feeds of SBF was more than that declared by the company except for special shrimp feed which had slightly lower (1%) protein compared to the company declared value. Pangas feeds (grower I and II) of PF had about 3% lower protein than the company declared value. The analysed lipid contents of all feeds were higher than the company declared values except nursery feeds of QF which had about 1-2% less lipid content compared to the company declared value. Fibre contents of different feeds analysed were much higher (3-5%) than the company declared values. The analysed mineral contents in all the feeds were higher than the recommended mineral requirement for fishes. The results of the study showed that on the basis of nutrient content feeds from Saudi-Bangla Fish Feed Ltd. is better than other feeds.