Dietary Energy Requirement in Bullseye Snakehead (Channa marulius)

Abstract

The bullseye snakehead (Channa marulius) is commercially important fish species and depends largely on live feed because of its cannibalistic nature. Therefore, to ensure its sustainable production development of a cost effective optimized energy based nutrients diets is essential. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of four isonitrogenous diets with varying dietary lipid levels (0, 4, 8 and 12 % fish oil) in triplicate groups of bullseye snakehead fish fingerlings.  The formulated diet containing the optimal energy level of fish oil (F12 %) effectively enhanced the growth performance of bullseye snakehead. After the 90-day feeding trial, the highest net weight gain (63.45 ±5.78 g) was observed in F12 upon increasing lipid content. The fish fed with F8, F12 diets that contained 8, 12% fish oil showed significantly lower FCR than others. The activity of protease, lipase and amylase enzymes was found to be significantly higher (P<0.05) in F12 group for both liver and intestine, while significantly lower values were observed in control (F0) diet. The proximate composition and hematological parameters of fish showed significant differences among treatments. In conclusion, fish oil supplementation at 12 % (F12) can be recommended for enhanced growth, increased physiological and enzymatic activity in bullseye snakehead fingerlings, providing valuable practical insights for sustainable culture of bullseye snakehead.