Nursery rearing of Thai sarpunti, Barbonymus gonionotus larvae using three different supplementary feeds

Abstract

Nursery rearing of silver barb, Puntius gonionotus (Bleeker, 1850) larvae was carried out with three different feeding treatments T1, T2 and T3 having three replications each in nine rectangular glass aquaria (45x25x24 cm) for a period of 28 days in laboratory condition. Live planktonic feed (5000 cells/L), plankton and rice bran having 14.14% protein, and plankton and Saudi-Bangla nursery feed having 30.20% protein were tested as T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Three days old larvae of B. gonionotus (average length 5.0±0.15 mm and weight 7.0±0.05 mg) were stocked at a stocking density of 4.1 larvae/L of water in each aquarium. The highest length at harvest (28.06±0.38 mm and weight 135.00±3.05 mg) and also highest SGR (18.79±0.80) were found in T3 followed by T2 and T1. The survival rate in all the treatments was high (92-90%) and treatment to treatment variation was not significant (P<0.05). The result implies that the application of supplemental feeds over control in nursery rearing of B. gonionotus larvae had positive role. The non-significant growth variation between T2 and T3 indicate suitability of the use of low protein content supplemental feed in the farmers nursery pond during the nursery rearing of B. gonionotus larvae. Keywords: Silver barb; Nursery rearing; Rice bran; Plankton DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i1.4976 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(1): 139-144, 2009