Effect of Chitin and Chitosan on the Physicochemical Quality of Silage Based Fish Feed

Abstract

Silage made from the filleting waste of rohu, Labeo rohita was used for the preparation of palletized fish feed. Three sets of feeds were prepared viz., control and two lots incorporated with chitin and chitosan respectively. Chitin and chitosan incorporated feeds were prepared along with the control. The biochemical and physical properties viz., durability, stability, sinking rate and leaching of the feeds were studied. The loss during stacking was found to be minimum in samples incorporated with chitin and chitosan while higher loss was observed in the case of control, indicating that chitin and chitosan have better binding property (p<0.05). The stability of feed was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the case of chitin and chitosan incorporated samples when compared to control indicating that both chitosan and chitin improved the stability when added at 2% level in feed. Pellet durability was also better in chitosan incorporated samples. Incorporation of chitin and chitosan was found to reduce the leaching of the pelletized feed. The control feed showed maximum leaching of protein (5.04 mg 100g-1) after 15 min in water but in the case of chitosan incorporated feeds leaching of protein for the corresponding period was marginal (0.82 mg 100g-1). The feeds contained essential amino acids indicating that high quality fish feed can be prepared from fish waste silage.