A Novel Food Formulation for the Juveniles of Penaeus monodon (Fabricius)

The efficiency of carbohydrate rich food was studied and compared with four different feeds on the juveniles of Penaeus monodon (Fabricius). The average food consumption of formulated feed rich in carbohydrates (Feed 2) showed minimum consumption (0.479 g dry weight), faecal production (0.061 g dry weight) and Food Conversion Ratio (0.471) as compared to protein rich Feed-1 where these values were maximum. The assimilation efficiency (86.78%) and average gross efficiency (198.47%) was higher in Feed-2 as compared to these values obtained for other feeds. Mean relative growth (14.29%) and asymptotic weight (300 g) was calculated maximum for Feed -2 whereas, it was minimum for Feed-1. The von Bertalanffy's growth equation fitted well to describe the growth pattern of the juveniles and represented as: W-t=180[1-e-(0016(t+3.75))] for Feed-1; W-t=300[1-e-(0.0013(t+3.00))] for Feed-2; W-t= 220[1-e-(0.0015(t+3.33))] for Feed-3; W-t= 240[1-e(-0.0016(t+3.18))] for Feed-4 and W-t= 200[1-e(-0.0015(t+3.60))] for Feed-5