Protein requirement of juvenile Penaeus indicus 1. Food consumption and growth

Abstract

Juveniles of Penaeus indicus were fed with different concentrations of protein diet (0--60% of dry weight of diet) with purified lipid free casein as protein source. During the experimental period of 30 days, survival was only 27% in the group fed with protein free diet. Survival (75%) and protein efficiency ratio (3'7) were maximum at 40 and 30% proteirilevel, respectively; specific food consumption (4-3-6'7%) and food conversion ratio (1-3-1'4) were lowest at 30 and 40% protein level, respectively. Another experiment conducted to precisely quantify the near optimum protein requirement for maximum growth of Penaeus indicus revealed significantly higher growth and protein efficiency ratio in the groups receiving 35-37'5% protein than the other groups .