Effects of feeding frequency and feeding rate on growth performance, feed utilization and body composition of Oreochromis shiranus juvenile (Trewavas 1983) reared in laboratory condition

Studies to investigate the effect of feeding frequency (2, 3 and 4 times/day) and feeding rate (2, 4, 6 and 8% BW/day) on growth performance, feed utilization and body composition of Oreochromis shiranus was conducted in a laboratory at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Nine opaque fiber glass tanks and 12 translucent circular tanks were used for feeding frequency and feeding rate studies, respectively. The experiments were carried out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Results showed that feeding frequency had a significant effect (P< 0.05) on final mean weight, specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and food conversion ratio (FCR). The SGR in fish fed at three times a day was 1.179±0.7013g which differed by 19.6 % and 27.5% from fish fed twice a day and four times daily, respectively. Viscerosomatic and Hepatosomatic indices were not significantly different among the three treatments (P>0.05). In the feeding rate study, final mean weights, SGR, PER, FCR Viscerosomatic and Hepatosomatic were significantly different (P< 0.05) among treatments. Fish that were fed on 6% Body Weight/ day had the highest SGR of 1.462± 0.0837g (P< 0.05) followed by fish fed on 4%, 2% and 8% with the growth of 1.444±0.0705g, 1.248±0.0753g and 1.051± 0.0810 g, respectively. The studies concluded that a feeding frequency of three times and a feeding rate of 6% BW is the best for optimum growth performance, feed utilization and body composition of Oreochromis shiranus. These results, however, need to be validated in a pond environment.