Fish Nutrition & Feed Technology

Unit 9 - Nutritional requirements of cultivable fish and shell fish

9.7.Dietary protein : energy ratio

A balance between protein and energy is considered important in fish diet, so that energy spares protein growth. The conditions where energy intake is inadequate, energy is drawn from protein source. Excess protein is not only wasteful and uneconomical but also causes stress to fish and aquatic pollution as well. Diets containing excess energy leads to lipid accumulation, resulting in fatty fish with low dressing percentage. The optimum protein and energy (P:E) ratio is known to be size-related and is higher in small fishes.

Dietary P:E ratio for optimum growth of fish and prawn species