mahj-01-2026-29-35

Author:
Dhirendra Pratap Thakur, Dipika Bhusal, Shailesh Gurung, Sabita Jhas, Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Shobhakhar Pandey, Balika Poudel

Doi: 10.26480/mahj.01.2026.29.35

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

ABSTRACT

The impact of initial feeding on the growth and survivability of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was assessed using 15 cages, each with a volume of 1 m³, at the Fisheries Human Resource Development and Technology Validation Center in Janakpurdham, Dhanusha, over a period of 90 days. The experiment utilized a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments (control, soybean meal, egg yolk powder, buffalo liver powder, and fish meal powder), each replicated three times. The treatments were administered at 25%, 20%, 15%, and 10% of body weight during the first, second, third, and fourth weeks, respectively, followed by 10% and 5% in the subsequent second and third months. Results during the treatment phase indicated a significant difference in the number of fish harvested across various treatments. Survival rates were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in fish fed fish meal powder (59.3±0.94%) and egg yolk powder (57.6±3.1%) compared to the control treatment, which had a survivability of 42.7±4.3%. In the post-treatment phase, fish fed with fish meal powder and buffalo liver powder exhibited significantly higher survival rates of 88.0±1.2% and 88.0±2.0%, respectively, compared to the control treatment, which had a survivability of 72.0±2.0%. The highest mean harvest weight was observed in buffalo liver powder during the treatment phase (523.3±8.8 mg) and post-treatment phase (4068.9±2.8+), showing no significant difference from fish meal powder but significantly higher than other treatments (p < 0.05) A significant difference (p < 0.05) in specific growth rate and daily weight gain was observed across different treatments during both the treatment and post-treatment phases. This study shows that buffalo liver powder as an initial feed enhances growth performance and survivability in common carp hatchlings. Further research is needed to assess the impact of buffalo liver powder in starter diets.