Effect of Nymphaea meal incorporated diets on growth, feed efficiency and body composition in fingerlings of Cyprinus carpio L.

The effect of varying levels of Nymphaea leaf meal on the growth and survival of common carp, Cyprinus carpio was investigated. In a feeding trail of 45 days, three experimental diets containing nymphaea leaf meal at 300, 400 and 500g kg-1 level of incorporation were fed to triplicate groups of 10 fish each. The conventional feed used in India, consisting of a mixture of groundnut oil cake and rice bran in 1:1 ratio served as the control. Best growth in terms of weight gain (35.2g), specific growth rate (4.67), protein efficiency ratio (PER) (2.7), feed conversion ratio (FCR) (2.5) was obtained for the test diet with 400g kg-1 nymphaea meal inclusion level. However no statistical difference was observed between the three experimental diets. Digestive enzyme activity and digestibility studies also indicated the same pattern. Thus the results of the present study indicate that a diet of 300g kg-1 overall protein with nymphaea meal included at 400g kg-1 can elicit good growth response and survival in common carp.