INFLUENCE OF COMMERCIAL PROBIOTIC (BIFILAC) ON GROWTH, FEED UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY AND BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MURREL, CHANNA STRIATUS

The present study was carried out to evaluate the influence of dietary supplementation of commercial probiotic (mixture of several strains of bacteria and yeast) on growth performance, feed utilization efficiency and biochemical composition of murrel, Channa striatus. The feeding trial was conducted for 60 days, C. striatus fingerlings with similar body weight (4?1gm) were distributed randomly into five treatment groups, which fed a feed containing probiotics in five different concentrations such as 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.3 %, 0.4 % and 0.5 %. The control group was fed without probiotics for the same period. The fishes were fed twice a day at a rate of 5% of their body weight. At the end of the feeding trial, maximum weight gain, length gain, specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and feed efficiency (FE) were observed (P <0.05) in the 0.5% probiotic diet fed fishes. FCR was highest in control group and PER and FE values were maximum (P<0.05) in 0.5% Bifilac supplemented group, which was significantly different from other feeding groups. Biochemical composition such as protein, carbohydrate, fat, moisture and ash contents were estimated in the muscle tissues of Channa fry on the initial and final days of the experimental period. At the end of 60 days of feeding trial, the biochemical composition differs significantly (P<0.05) among different experimental group fishes and maximum was observed in 0.5% of Bifilac diet fed group. These results clearly suggest that the inclusion of Bifilac at 0.5% level can improve growth performance, feed utilization efficiency and biochemical composition in C. striatus fingerlings and it can be used effectively as a probiotics for the use in aquaculture.