Dietary Influence of Selected Botanical Additives on Growth, Body Coloration and Carcass Composition of Juvenile Yellow Morph, Labidochromis caeruleus

Abstract

The authors evaluated the effect of four botanical additives (Hibiscus rosa-sinencies, Chrysanthemum indicum, Thespesia populnea and Tagetes erectes) on growth, body coloration and carcass composition of an ornamental cichlid yellow morph Lebidochromis caeruleus. The xanthophilic sources were added to the supplementary diets at 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15% levels along with a control diet without xanthophilic sources. Among the four xanthophilic sources tested, highly pronounced body coloration of fishes was observed when fed with tagetes 1 to 5 diets followed by chrysanthemum 4 and 5 diets. This was reflected by low FCR, higher FCR and higher intake of protein and protein-efficiency ratio. The carcass composition of the fishes fed with the diets tagetes 1 to 5 found to enhance the tissue protein significantly than other diets. This study indicates that botanical additives have a strong influence in overall growth and body coloration of the cichlid.

Keywords: Lebidochromis caeruleus, Tagetes erectes, xanthophill, pigmentation

Cite this Article

Prabakar Ram A, Sethuramalingam TA. Dietary influence of selected botanical additives on growth, body coloration and carcass composition of juvenile yellow morph, Labidochromis caeruleus. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Life Sciences. 2015; 5(2):  9–16p.