Dietary arginine requirement of fingerling Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton)

Abstract

Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala fingerling (3.85 ± 0.50 cm, 0.50 ± 0.02 g) were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets (40% CP, 4.28 kcal g−1, GE) containing casein, gelatin and crystalline amino acids with graded levels of L- methionine (0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50 and 2.00 g/ 100 g, dry diet) with 1.00% cystine fixed, to determine its dietary methionine requirement. A feeding trial was conducted in triplicate for six weeks. Diets were fed twice a day at 0800 and 1600 h at 5% of body weight/day. The ration size and feeding regime were worked out prior to the start of the feeding trial. Weight gain (158%) and food conversion ratio (1.45) were significantly (P 0.05) differences among the dietary methionine levels.