Evaluation of juvenile silver perch Bidyanus bidyanus (Mitchell) nutritional needs using high- and low-protein diets at two feeding levels

Juvenile silver perch Bidyanus bidyanus (Mitchell) of 3.2 g average weight were reared under controlled conditions on diets containing 23.4% and 40.6% protein. Diets were administered at 3% or 6% of the fish biomass per day. Both the protein concentrations and the feeding level of the diet influenced growth and proximate composition of the fish at the end of the 100-day growth trial. The energy requirement for these fish for maintenance was found to be 81.9 kcal x BW^-0.8 and, for each unit of energy retained per metabolic body weight, 7.05 needed to be supplied, whereas for each gram of protein retained per metabolic body weight, 5.79 g were required. The results indicate that it is possible to obtain the same weight increment when feeding a 23.4% protein diet at a level of 6% body mass day^-1 compared with only 3% body mass day^-1 of a 40.6% protein diet. This study provides the first estimation of nutrient requirements for juvenile silver perch, and these estimations require further refinement.