Growth of fresh-water prawn Macrobrachium tenellum (Smith, 1871) juveniles fed isoproteic diets substituting fish meal by soya bean meal

Growth parameters (standard length, weight, specific growth rate and daily weight gain) of prawn Macrobrachium tenellum juveniles fed 40% crude protein isoproteic diets substituting fish meal with soya bean meal at various levels (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%) were evaluated for 45 days under laboratory conditions. Experimental diets were compared with a 100% fish meal based diet. Total survival was recorded for all the treatments at the end of the experiment. There were no significant differences (p >= 0.05) for all the growth parameters among the dietary treatments. The initial mean weight (0.36 +/- 0.10 g) increased almost three times (1.00 +/- 0.13 g) after 45 days. The final specific growth fluctuated from 1.82% BW/d for the 60% soya bean meal inclusion diet, to 2.62% for the 100% fish meal diet. The mean final survival was 91.66%. Growth performance of M. tenellum juveniles was not affected by the dietary soya bean meal levels tested.