Effects of Different Feeding Frequencies on Growth Performance and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the growth performance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of Oreochromis niloticus fry reared in experimental ponds. A stocking density of 360 fish/decimal with three feeding frequency T1 (four times/day), T2 (three times/day) and T3 (two times/day) was maintained each with three replications. The fry was initially fed at 30% of their body weight and the rate was reduced up to 5% gradually at the final stage. The survival rate was 95.65±0.367, 93.00±0.709 and 90.50±0.707 % in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The best FCR value was obtained in T1 (0.983±0.0057) and the significantly (p˂0.05) highest fish production was also observed in T1 (65.67±0.52 kg/dec/120 days). At the end of the experiment, the mean weight gain was recorded as 327.49±2.32, 294.55±0.87 and 244.72±2.33 g in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The highest percent weight gain (%) was observed in T1 (5468.78±38.87) followed by T2 (5167.54±27.13) and T3 (4293.27±17.36). The specific growth rate (SGR) was also highest in T1 (3.48±0.03) while the lowest SGR was found in T3 (3.15±0.01%). The results revealed that feeding frequency effect positively on the growth performance of Tilapia.