Effects of feeding rates on growth and production of Nile tilapia, common carp and silver carp polycultured in fertilized ponds

In an attempt to identify appropriate feeding rates for multispecies of fish raised in fertilized earthen ponds, the present work was conducted over a 19-week experimental period to establish the growth performance, production and body composition of Nile tilapia, common carp and silver carp fed 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 3.0%, 5.0% biomass and to apparent satiation (treatments). Twelve ponds were stocked with a similar number and weight of each fish species. Two ponds were assigned to each of the treatments, and a 25% protein pelleted fish feed was used to feed fish at the specified rate of feeding. At the end of the experiment, growth, weight gain, survival, yield and body composition of fish groups were affected by the treatments. The economic effectiveness also varied among treatments. The most conspicuous attribute of the feeding rates was its lack of influence on growth (g day(-1)), weight gain (g per fish), yield (kg ha(-1)) or body composition of silver carp. The results of whole-body proximate analysis indicated that various feeding rates had either an irregular pattern or no effects on the protein and ash gain per 100 g of fish body weight (bw) gain. The most notable exceptions were significant (P < 0.05) increases in body fat and gross energy gains in Nile tilapia, common carp and silver carp accompanied by decreases in percentages of moisture (but not in silver carp) as feeding rate increased. Among the six different feeding levels, feeding to apparent satiation (feed amount was equivalent to 2.67% of fish bw day(-1)) appeared to be optimal, as it significantly (P < 0.05) supported the highest fish production, income and net profit compared with all other treatments except for the 3% feeding level, for which the differences in those measurements were comparable.