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Abstract
The study aimed to determine the effects of feeding frequency on growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein conversion ratio (PER) and survival rate of juvenile malabar snapper. Malabar snapper (initial weight of 0.18 ± 0.01 g; initial length 1.93 ± 0.10 cm) were reared in 500 liter-cylindrical composite tanks (Ø=0.8 m) at the density of 0.75 fish per liter. The fish were fed to satiation with 4 feeding frequencies, including 2, 3, 5 and 7 times per day (corresponding to F2, F3, F5, F7) using a commercial diet containing 55.0% protein, 9.0% lipid (NRD, INVE, Thailand) for 35 days. Each treatment was run with 4 replication tanks. The results showed that feeding frequency affected growth, FCR, PER and survival rate in juvenile malabar snapper. The fish in treatments F3 and F5 gained higher growth in length and weight than those from treatments F2 and F7, of which the fish in treatment F2 showed the lowest growth rate (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in coefficient of variance of length and weight, condition factor (K), viscerosomatic index (VSI) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) amongs the fish from different feeding frequencies(P>0.05). Meanwhile, FCR of the fish in F7 was higher than those from other treatments (P<0.05). Survival rate (SR) of the fish in F5 was higher than those in the F2 and F7 (P<0.05), while SR of the fish in F3 treatment did not significantly differ from other treatments. The above results indicated that feeding frequency of 3-5 times per day is suitable for growth, survival rate and feed conversion efficiency of juvenile malabar snapper.
Key words: Lutjanus malabaricus, malabar snapper, feeding frequency, growth performance, survival rate.