UTILIZATION OF DETOXIFIED JATROPHA KERNEL CAKE IN THE DIET OF Clarias magur (HAMILTON, 1822) FINGERLINGS: FOR GROWTH PERFORMANCE

A 60 days feeding trial was conducted to study the effect of detoxified Jatropha kernel meal on nutrient utilization, growth performance and physio-metabolic response of Clarias magur fingerlings. Four iso-nitrogenous diets were prepared with different inclusion levels of detoxified Jatropha kernel meal (DJKM) i.e., Control (0%), T1 (10%), T2 (20%) and T3 (30%). 240 numbers of C. magur (magur) fingerlings were randomly distributed in four different experimental groups with three replicates. Each replicate contains 20 fishes with an average weight of 5.0 ± 0.5 g and fed till satiation, daily twice for 60 days.

Significant difference (P<0.05) was observed in weight gain %, specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed efficiency ratio (FER) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Among the experimental treatments 10% DJKM fed group (T1) showed higher weight gain %, SGR, FER and PER with the values of 107.51 ± 3.02, 1.21 ± 0.02, 0.41 ± 0.02 and 0.43 ± 0.02 respectively and lower values were observed in T2 and T3 fed groups.

Similarly, digestive enzymes such as Amylase, Protease, and Lipase activity were also significantly higher in the fishes reared in Control and T1 fed groups. Study of metabolic enzyme revealed that metabolic enzyme activity (AST, ALT & ALP) decreases with the gradual increase in the inclusion level of DJKM whereas, SOD and Catalase were showing higher activity with the increased inclusion level of detoxified Jatropha kernel meal in the diet. Hence, it is found that inclusion of DJKM upto 10% in the diet of C. magur fingerlings showed better nutrient utilization and growth performance.