Impact of Floating feed on Growth Performance, Yield and Survival of Rohu (Labeo rohita) and Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Tank Based Intensive Aquaculture System

The present study was aimed to evaluate the growth performance and subsequent survival rate of the rohu (Labeo rohita) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The experiment was conducted in six concrete tanks under an outdoor laboratory shed from 10th May to 29th July, 2019. There were three replications for each treatment and feed was supplied at the rate of 12%, 8%, and 4% of the body weight of rohu and 20%, 15%, and 10% of the body weight of tilapia in 1st, 2nd and 3rd month for rohu (T1) and tilapia (T2) respectively to assess the comparative growth performance. The initial weight of individual tilapia was 7.52±1.81 g and 14.75±0.19 g for T1 and T2, respectively. The final mean weight of each fish was 44.01±5.65g for T1 and 139.94±1.29 g for T2. The weight gains of fish were 36.49±4.09 g and 125.19±1.29 g for T1 and T2, respectively. The mean percent weight gain of tilapia was higher in T2 (1715.05±0.00) than T1 (485.23±0.00). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) in T1 and T2 were 2.86±0.14 and 2.23±0.18, respectively. Higher total production was obtained in T2 (1119.52 g) than T1 (278.19 g) with 100% survival in both the treatments. The water quality parameters for both of the species were within the suitable range. The study reveals that growth performance was higher in T2 than T1 having 100% survival rate in the concrete tanks.