February 15-18, 2009 Washington State Convention Center Seattle ...

EVALUATION OF MULTIPLE-BATCH CHANNEL CATFISH Ictalurus punctatus
PRODUCTION FED FOUR RECENTLY-DEVELOPED COMMERCIAL DIETS
Neil Pugliese, David Heikes, Carole Engle and Brian Bosworth
Aquaculture/Fisheries Center
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
1200 N. University Dr.
Pine Bluff, AR 71601 USA
With prices for channel catfish feed soaring, feed mills have adopted new feed formulations in an attempt to lower feed costs.
This study compared survival, growth, FCR and net yield of four recently developed commercially available channel catfish
diets in a multiple-batch production scenario. On 8 May 2008, sixteen 0.1-ha ponds were stocked with 14,388 fingerlings/ha
(12.5 cm) and 4,308 head/ha (350 g) of carryover fish. The feeds used in this study were: 1) 32% corn gluten feed, 2) 32%
premium feed, 3) 32% standard feed, and 4) 24% premium feed. Each of the feed treatments was assigned randomly to four
ponds. The effect of the various feeds on processing parameters such as the headed-gutted weight, untrimmed fillet weight,
shank fillet weight, nugget weight, visceral fat content, and the fillet fat content were also compared.
At harvest (23-26 September 2008), the net yield of carryover fish fed varied significantly with the diet fed. The 32% premium
diet had 318 kg/ha greater yield than the 32% standard diet that had 191 kg/ha greater yield than the 32% corn gluten diet that
had 373 kg/ha greater yield than the 24% premium diet. The 32% premium and 32% standard feed treatments had similar
FCR’s that were significantly lower than the FCR’s of the 32% corn gluten feed and the 24% premium feed. There was no
difference in shank fillet yield among treatments but the catfish fed 32% corn gluten feed had significantly less visceral fat. A
partial budget analysis compared switching to the 32% standard or 32% corn gluten feed from 32% premium. The higher yield
from 32% premium feed more than offset its higher cost. It was more profitable to feed the more expensive 32% premium
feed.
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