THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT DIETARY PROTEIN SOURCES ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCES AND BODY COMPOSITION OF THE ROCK PORGY, OPLEGNATHUS FASCIATUS

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of different dietary protein sources on the growth performance and muscle composition of the rock porgy, Oplegnathus fasciatus. Four isonitrogenous (48% crude protein) and isolipidic (10% crude lipid) diets were formulated with Peruvian fishmeal (PFM), Taiwanese fishmeal (TFM), poultry by-product meal (PBM) and meat and bone meal (MBM), respectively. The rock porgy (mean initial weight 10.58 g) were reared in 12 tanks and fed with one of the four treatment diets in triplicate for six weeks. The rock porgy fed with diet TFM had significantly higher weight gain than those fed with the other treatment diets. However, the rock porgy fed with diet MBM had significantly lower weight gain than those fed with the other treatment diets. Survival for all treatment groups ranged from 90 to 100%. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the rock porgy fed with diet TFM was lower than that of the fish fed with the other diets. The hepatosomatic index (HSI) of the rock porgy fed with diet PFM was lower than that of the fish fed with the other diets. The specific growth rate (SGR) of the rock porgy fed with diets TFM, PFM and PBM was significantly higher than that of fish fed with diet BMB. Therefore, it is suggested that TFM is the optimum protein source for the rock porgy.