EFFECTS OF DIETARY ANIMAL AND PLANT PROTEIN RATIOS AND ENERGY-LEVELS ON GROWTH AND BODY-COMPOSITION OF BREAM (MEGALOBRAMA-SKOLKOVII DYBOWSKI) FINGERLINGS

Isonitrogenous, practical diets with varying levels of fish meal (6-24 %) and energy (351-381 kcal/100g) were fed to triplicate groups of bre am fingerlings for 60 days to determine the amount of plant protein th at could be substituted for fish meal protein in formulated diets. Res ults indicate that specific growth rate increased and feed conversion ratio decreased as the inclusion level of fish meal increased. However , the growth performance among the fish fed diets containing 12-24% fi sh meal did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). Low-energy diets were superior to high-energy diets. The optimum protein/energy (P/E) ratio for bream fingerlings was found to be 88-90 mg protein/kcal. The opti mum dietary lipid level was found to be 6-8%. No significant effect of varying dietary fish meal or energy content on body composition was f ound.