Growth development of young common carp Cyprinus carpio through dietary sodium chloride supplementation

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the growth response of young common carp Cyprinus carpio to dietary salt levels. Five different test diets were prepared as a control diet without added salt, and four diets with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% added salt. Fish (20.15 ± 0.21 to 20.65 ± 0.64 gm /fish) was randomly distributed into the aquaria at a rate of 12 fish / 40 L . The water temperature was in the region of 27 ± 0.130 °C. Fish were fed either a diet containing 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% sodium chloride with a feeding rate of 3% of life body weight twice daily for 7 days a week for 60 days. No significant difference between the treatments was noticed. The best Final body weight, percent weight gain, and specific growth rate (SGR) were found with 1.5 % salt diet (P<0.05), whereas the lowest growth was gained in 2% salt. Generally, Food conversion ratio (FCR) and food conversion efficiency (FCE) were improved for carp fingerlings fed on diets contain NaCl ranged from 0.1 to 1.5% (P<0.05). The results suggested that dietary supplementation of NaCl influenced the body composition and can be beneficial for the young common carp reared in freshwater used in the fish culture.