Dietary probiotic and effective microorganisms (EM) supplementation on growth performance and survival rate of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus in cage culture

Abstract

The effects of dietary probiotic and effective microorganisms (EM) supplementation on growth performance and survival rate of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus in cage culture were studied. Groups of fish were fed in 3 treatments, including: treatment I, pelleted feed 32% crude protein (control); treatment II, pelleted feed 32% crude protein supplemented with 0.75% probiotic; and treatment III, pelleted feed 32% crude protein supplemented with 0.10% effective microorganisms (EM). These experiments were a completely randomized design (CRD) in 3 replications. Initially the fish were an average weight of 0.29 g in cages 5 x 5 x 1.5 m in size. In total there were 750 fish per cage reared for 90 days, and data were collected every 15 days. The results showed that average weight gain, average length and average daily weight gain were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The experiments of feed conversion ratio and survival rates were statistically significant (P<0.05). The feed conversion ratio and the survival rate of fish fed with supplemented probiotic were the highest values. Results from this study indicated pelleted feed 32% crude protein supplemented with probiotic affected feed conversion ratio and survival rate, but did not affect the growth rate.