EFFECTS OF DIETARY FISH OIL SUBSTITUTION WITH SUNFLOWER OIL ON THE SURVIVAL, GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF CYPRINUS CARPIO (LINN.)

Lipid is an essential component of fish nutrition and fish oil (FO) is the major source of lipid and is supplemented at very high levels in fish diets. Decreasing global availability coupled with highly variable price of fish oil has forced the aquaculture industry to investigate the possibilities of alternative cheap dietary lipid sources. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of fish oil replacement with sunflower oil (SFO) on survival and growth parameters of fish and proximate composition of fish flesh in Cyprinus carpio (Linn.). Five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic dietary treatments (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacement of fish oil with sunflower oil) were prepared. The diet with 0% SFO was the control. Fish were fed on these diets for a period of 60 days. Significant differences (P>0.05) were not detected during 60 day feeding trial on the net weight gain (NWG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of the fish. No statistically significant differences (P>0.05) were observed on the survival of fish as well as proximate composition of fish flesh. Hence, the study suggested that the SFO can serve as a good substitute of FO for cost effective feed production and aquaculture Copy Right, IJAR, 2014,. All rights reserved.