author(s)
Dharitri Baruah, Binod Kalita, Krishna Kanta Tamuli, Sushanta Borthakur, Hemanta Prokhrel, Mandakini Deuri and Kalpajit Gogoi

abstract
A 120 days experiment was conducted to determine the effects of feeding rate on growth, feed utilization and biochemical parameters of the Labeo rohita, fingerlings with an initial average weight of 58 ± 0.4 gm. The rohu fingerlings were randomly distributed into three treatment groups designated as, T-1, T-2, T-3 with one control (T-0) following completely randomized design (CRD). The fish were fed with iso-nitrogenous (25%) diet at the rate of 3% (T-0), 1% (T-1), 6% (T-2) and 8% (T-3) of their body weight (BW) day^-1. Weight gain (%) increased almost linearly with increasing feeding rates up to 6% BW day^-1 beyond which no significant (P > 0.05) improvement in weight gain was observed. The specific growth rate (SGR) of rohu fed with 1% BW day^-1 recorded 0.97% day^-1 and increased significantly upto an average of 1.50% day^-1 fed with 6% BW day^-1. Feed utilization did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) between fish fed at 3% and 6% BW day^-1; however, decreased when the rate were increased upto 8.0% BW day^-1. Protein efficiency ratio (PER) was o.73 for rohu fed at 1.0% BW day^-1 compared to a rate of 3.04 for fish fed at 6% BW day^-1. Based on the weight gain (%), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion efficiency (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) the feeding rate of 6% BW day^-1 may be recommended for L. rohita fingerlings. These findings indicated that rohu fingerling fed with 6% BW day^-1 appears to be sufficient for obtaining optimum growth in Indian major carp fingerling, Labeo rohita.