Effect of periodical starvation and realimentation on growth in fingerlings of Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792)

Abstract

An attempt was made to find out the effect of periodical starvation and subsequent refeeding on the growth of fingerlings of Anabas testudineus. It was carried out with five treatments, D1, D2, D3, D4, and control, for 105 days. Fish of the treatments such as D1, D2, D3, and D4 were starved for one day, two days, three days, and four days towards the end of each week, and they were fed at 5% body weight during the rest of the days of the week, like that of the control. The growth of fish in terms of average length and weight was recorded every week along with water quality parameters such as temperature, D.O., pH, and hardness. During termination of the experiment, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the average length and weight of fish in the various treatments, which was attributed to differential feeding and seasonal environmental conditions. There was no significant difference in average weight and specific growth rate (weight) of fish of treatments D1 and D2 compared to that of the control, which can be ascribed to compensatory growth of a fish. However, it was considerably low in the treatments D3 and D4. It is inferred from the present study that growth of fish was compensated in treatments D1 and D2 with relatively low feed consumption compared to the control, indicating skipping one and two days of feeding in a week can save feed expense without compromising the growth in fish.