To feed Indian major carps, farmers generally use rice bran, mustard oil cake, groundnut oil cake in a certain proportion, mix them and feed to the Indian major carp. This combination generally does not have more than 20-25% protein.I request you to kindly share your view whether we should promote feeding commercial feed to Indian major carps or shall farmers keep practising the same traditional way of feeding Indian major carps.
Long back, I started my career with an extruded fish feed industry. As I remembered, we made formulation with more than 30% protein by using soy protein and fish meal in addition to various oil cakes. Therefore, to reply your query, I feel incorporation of soy or fish proteins could be the best choice for the growth of fish.
Thank you, Dr. Jasim Ahmed, for adding an answer to my query.Your answer may be very specific to some country but my Question was pertinent to Indian Aquaculture system.As per the FAO report and local knowledge I came to know the condition of the farmer and their choice of feeding to Indian major carp .Due to the very low margin on cost of production, farmers are using DORB and other cheap ingredients to feed the IMC.
Again it depends upon FCR of the commercial feed. And the most important is the cost per unit production. In the case of IMC, it is better to go with traditional practice especially in India where IMC culture is mainly semi-intensive.
Commercial feeds may not be be necessary, I think. The climate in south Asia is favourable for fish growth and the Indian major carps are good at utilizing natural fish food. Generally, the feed is used as supplementary as such it may not have that big impact if commercial feeds are used instead. However, commercial feeds will be required when implementing intensive monoculture of catfishes! and may be of carps!
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