Effect of restricted feeding regimes on compensatory weight gain and body tissue in fry of the Indian major carpHamilton, 1822)

Abstract

An 8-week experiment was conducted to examine the effect of restricted feeding on compen- satory weight gain and body tissue changes in fry of the Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala. During the period of feed restriction, the control group was fed to satiation twice a day while feed for the three other groups was completely withheld for 1, 2, or 4 weeks. During the subsequent re-alimentation period, all groups were fed to satiation. At the end of the experiment, fish deprived of feed for two weeks had a significantly (p<0.05) higher body weight (5.40±0.20 g) and lower FCR (3.40±0.20) than the control group (4.55±0.10 g and 6.75±0.02, respectively). At the end of the experiment, there were no significant differences in dry matter, protein, lipid, or ash contents among groups, except that fish deprived of feed for four weeks had a significantly (p<0.05) lower protein content than fish in the other treatments.