Efficacy of different wet feeds on the growth performance of mud crab Scylla serrata during fattening in cages

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveMud crab culture/fattening is a lucrative business with high profit margins because they have high economic and export value. Compared with shrimp culture, crab fattening has many advantages such as a short production cycle, high tolerance to poor water quality, rapid growth rates in captivity, etc. Currently, cheap commercial feed for crabs is unavailable, so raw feeds such as low‐value fishes have been used for rearing mud crabs. The current study was conducted to determine the growth performance of mud crab Scylla serrata that were fed with different processed wet feeds.MethodsCrabs weighing 250–300 g were stocked in individual cages, and the experiment was conducted with three different feed treatments including processed chicken intestine, processed shrimp head waste, oyster meat, and the control feed was processed small‐sized low‐value fish.ResultOf all the feeds, mud crabs that were fed with chicken intestine showed better performance, followed by oyster meat, shrimp head waste, and low‐value fish.ConclusionThe present study concludes that fattening mud crabs with chicken intestine as feed showed better growth and economic performance.