Efficacy of bacterial fermented oilcake mix as fishmeal substitute in the diet of tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon (Fabricius) post larvae

Abstract

Diets incorporated with varying levels (5, 15, 25 and 35%) of bacterial fermented oil cake mix, derived by solid-state fermentation (SSF) as fishmeal replacement, were evaluated in Penaeus monodon post larvae for growth, digestibility and body composition through a 42 days laboratory experiment. A diet containing 35% fishmeal and no fermented ingredient mix was used as the control. Pure culture of Bacillus coagulans MTCC-2449 was used for SSF and the 36 h fermented
product was incorporated in the diets. Analysis of response data revealed that the shrimp fed diet containing 35% fermented ingredient mix (100% fishmeal substitution) had significantly higher (P<0.05) mean weight gain (0.63±0.03 g), better feed conversion ratio (1.58), apparent protein utilization (25.65) and protein efficiency ratio (1.71) than all other diets as well as the control. The apparent protein digestibility (86.56%) and apparent fat digestibility (94.55%) were also found to be the highest for this diet. The survival rate was 100% in all the treatments and the control.