EFFECT OF DIET TYPE AND STOCKING DENSITY ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD PARAMETERS OF THE EGYPTIAN SOLE (SOLEA AEGYPTIACA CHABANAUD, 1927)

EFFECT OF DIET TYPE AND STOCKING DENSITY ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD PARAMETERS OF THE EGYPTIAN SOLE
(SOLEA AEGYPTIACA CHABANAUD, 1927)

Hamed H.E. Saleh^1*; Sobhy M. Allam²; Ramadan M. Abou-Zied²; Ragab A. Mohammed¹ and Safaa S.A. Aljilany¹

¹National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), Egypt.

²Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Egypt.

*Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the optimum diet type and stocking density on growth performance, blood parameters and fish body composition of Solea aegyptiaca fingerlings. The first experiment was tested four different diet type (unconventional feeds, Sand smelt minced (SSM), Shrimp minced (SM), Housefly maggot (HM)) and (conventional feed, artificial feed (AF)) for 120 days. The results cleared that, unconventional feeds were better than AF on growth performance and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The highest protein content in whole fish body was obtained with fish fed on SSM and SM, while the highest ether extract content was with fish fed on SM and HM. Blood parameters cleared that, improve in the general health status of fish fed on unconventional feeds. The second experiment was tested four different stocking densities 10, 20, 30 and 40 fish/m³ and continued for 120 days. The results showed that, the low stocking densities at 10 and 20 fish/m³ were the best in growth performance and FCR. The highest protein content in whole fish body was obtained with fish under stocking density (20 fish/m³), while ether extract content was not different between the four stocking densities groups. Blood parameters cleared that, fish was on stress status with increasing stocking density.

Keywords: Growth performance, blood parameters, unconventional feeds conventional feed, stocking density, Solea aegyptiaca.