155 To cite this paper: Srivastava PP, Dayal R, Chowdhary S, Jena JK, Raizada S., Sharma P. 2012. Rearing of fry to fingerling of Saul (Channa striatus) on artificial diets. Online J. Anim. Feed Res., 2(2): 155-161. Scienceline/Journal homepages: http://www.science-line.com/index/; http://www.ojafr.ir © 2011, Scienceline Publication Online Journal of Animal and Feed Research Volume 2, Issue 2: 155-161 (2012) ISSN 2228-7701 REARING OF FRY TO FINGERLING OF SAUL (Channa Striatus) ON ARTIFICIAL DIETS P.P. SRIVASTAVA 1,* , R. DAYAL 1 , S. CHOWDHARY 1 , J.K. JENA 1 , S. RAIZADA 1 , P. SHARMA 1 1 National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Canal Ring Road, Telibagh, Lucknow – 226 002, UP, India *Email: ppsrivastava63@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Three diets (F1, F2 and F3) containing protein levels of 38.60 to 38.98 % crude protein were used to assess the growth performances of Channa striatus fry (weight 0.52±0.0 to 0.53±0.02 g) in a completely randomized experiment design in five replicate set for 12 weeks. The fry were reared in 15 FRP tanks at a stocking density of 100 fry m 3 and fed ad libitum. The diets F1 and F3 showed significantly (P<0.05) low survival levels of 74±1.2% and 76±4.4% in comparison to diets F2 (82±3.1%) 84 th day of rearing. The net biomass gain %, length gain %, SGR, PER and per day weight gain were found significantly (P<0.05) higher and FCR low with diet F2 in comparison to diets F1 and F3. The proximate analysis of carcass showed that the fishes fed diets F2 had significantly (P<0.5) higher deposition of crude protein and lipids in the tissue. The study revealed that the growth performance of C. striatus fry is better in feed F2 and the fry could be reared to fingerling size on formulated diets. Key words: Channa striatus, Survival, Growth INTRODUCTION Snakehead, Channa striatus (Bloch.), a carnivorous air - breather, is a valuable food fish in Asia (Wee, 1982). Snakehead can survive in harsh environments with low dissolved oxygen and high ammonia (Ng and Lim, 1990; Qin et al., 1997a) and therefore, are often cultured in fingerling ponds at densities of 40 – 80 fish. m -2 , with annual yields ranging from 7 to 156 tonne.ha -1 (Wee, 1982). The snakehead Channa striatus has for long been commercially cultured in many countries for its good taste, market value, and medicinal qualities (Marimuthu and Haniffa, 2004). Snakehead Channa striatus is an air- breathing fish highly regarded as a food in Asia because its flesh is claimed to be rejuvenating, particularly for those recuperating from a serious illness. The early post -larvae, late post - larvae, fry and fingerlings of the different size groups of Channa striatus were reared from hatchling stage (Haniffa et al., 1999). A protocol was developed for weaning larval snakehead from live Artemia to formulated feed, but fingerling performance with formulated feed was not evaluated for this variety of murrel (Qin et al., 1997b). Haniffa et al. (2002a) reported the digestibility of lipid by the stripped murrel Channa striatus (0.6±0.12 g) was assessed by feeding six formulated feeds containing 7.54-22.3% lipid and energy varying between 3.54-4.38 kcal/g were prepared. The feeding experiments revealed that apparent protein digestibility (APD) was relatively higher in the diet 3 and 4 (90.24% and 90.60%) whereas; the apparent fat digestibility (AFD) was more in diet 5 and 6 (99.30% and 99.38%) respectively. Effects of feed application rates on growth, survival, and feed conversion of juvenile snakehead murrel, Channa striatus have been reported and it was recorded that growth, survival and feed conversion ratio of juvenile snakehead murrel ( Channa striatus) were evaluated when fed a dry formulated feed with 50% crude protein (Qin et al., 1996b). In Channa striatus size and feed dependent cannibalism with juveniles were reported by Qin et al. (1996a). Mass breeding of Channa striatus in an earthen pond have been reported with synthetic hormone 'ovaprim' injection was resorted to (Francis et al., 2000). The mass induced breeding technique is simple and advantageous, as it does not require expensive components like plastic pools, aquaria and hapa (Haniffa et al., 2002b). Marimuthu et al. (2001) reported a simple and low-cost breeding technology for breeding the striped murrel, Channa striatus in hapas in ponds was developed in India however, and the impact of dietary nutrients on breeding performance is not demonstrated and/or evaluated. The growth of intensive aquaculture production has led to a growing interest in providing fishes with dietary lipid contents to give higher energy through diet and simultaneously reduce the nitrogen load in the pond system by reducing the protein contents by supplementing the lipid contents. Because the carnivore fishes requires relatively higher levels of dietary animal protein and/or higher dietary energy for rapid