Effects of Probiotics and Spirulina on Survival and Growth of Juvenile Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Abstract

A 45-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of probiotics and spirulina on sur- vival, growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), and total heterotroph- ic microbial count in common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Two probiotic organisms (the bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and a single cell protein (Spirulina maximus) were incorporated into diets at concentrations of 1%, 2%, or 3%. The con- trol diet contained no supplement. Spirulina maximus at 3% produced the best and statistically significant (p<0.05) survival, growth (3.69±0.10 g), specific growth rate (1.27±0.02%/d), FCR (0.71±0.08), and PER (1.96±0.03). In general, L. acidophilus produced better growth than S. cerevisiae. The highest FCR (1.93±0.05) was obtained in the control. The total heterotrophic microbial count was highest in S. cerevisiae treatments, followed by L. acidophilus and S. max- imus. The present investigation shows that incorporation of a probiotic or spirulina in diets for common carp results in increased growth rate.