Abstract:
Substituting plant protein for fish meals is an alternate protein source in the diet of reared fish. By replacing fish meal with Soybean Meal (SM) or Cassava Meal (CM), this study determined the effects of diets influenced by local wisdom containing plant protein meal, SM, CM, or a commercial formula (FM™) on the survival and growth rates of snakehead fish (Channa striata) with nutritional and economic analysis. After acclimatization, snakehead fingerlings (10 fish/tank) were randomly allocated in the nine cement tanks. Three tanks each for Soybean Meal (SM) diet; Cassava Meal (CM) diet; and commercial diet (FM™). Fish weights were determined every four weeks for the 12 weeks. At the end of each experiment, the Survival Rate (SR), growth performance values, and cost reduction were calculated. After 12 weeks, there were no significant differences in SR among treatment groups. The growth performance of fish in SM dietary treatment and FM™ dietary treatments had no significant difference. Although, the specific growth rate of fish fed CM diet was slightly less than SM and FM™ diet.The soybean meal or cassava was substituted for a fish meal resulting in 11.6 and 7.9% economic value (cost/100g fish product), respectively compared to the commercial diet. However, the CM diet resulted in the lowest Feed Conversion Rate (FCR) in this experiment. There were no significant differences between FCR and Protein Efficiency Rate (PER). The results revealed the beneficial effect of diets influenced by local wisdom, especially the addition of soybean, in terms of weight gain promotion and feed cost reduction. These findings can be applied to develop low-cost diets for snakehead fish, supporting the flexibility and competitiveness of the snakehead fish farming industry and reducing the number of small fish used for fishmeal. © 2022 Duangjai Boonkusol and Wuttipong Tongbai.