Fish Nutrition & Feed Technology

Unit 15 - Evaluation of efficiency of fish feeds

15.1.Evaluation of efficiency of fish feed

The feed formulated is generally evaluated for its efficiency like (1) Digestibility Coefficient, (2) Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and (3) Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Specific Growth Rate (SGR).

Digestibility Coefficient: reflects the capacity of fish to digest various nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, fats etc.

Feed Conversion Ratio: is variously termed as food quotient, food coefficient, growth coefficient, food conversion ratio or absolute conversion ratio and reflects the weight or increase in growth relative to the amount of feed consumed.

No reliable data have been obtained on the FCR of supplementary feeds as FCR is dependent on various factors such as fertility status of water, density of fish population, period of rearing and environmental and biological considerations of the fish.

Protein Efficiency Ratio: reflects the efficiency of protein in the feed and its conversion as meat

Specific Growth Rate: refers to the average percentage increase in weight per day over the experimental growth period.