Growth and economic performance of different supplementary feed on female mud crab (Scylla olivacea) fattening in plastic box

The present study was conducted to identify low cost feed for female mud crab (Scylla olivacea) fattening practice in plastic box and the effect of different feeds on growth and survival rate of mud crab. A number of 30 adult non-gravid female crabs were reared into rectangular shaped plastic boxes, each box containing one crab. Three types of feed such as Chicken intestine, Tilapia and Apple Snail meat were supplied as feed at 10% of body weight of the crabs once daily considered as Treatment-1, Treatment-2 and Treatment-3 respectively with 10 replications each to compare the fattening system.. The crabs in plastic boxes were floating into water to fatten for 10 days. Survival rate of crab was found 100%, 90% and 100% respectively in chicken intestine, tilapia and apple snail meat. In the experiment food conversion ratio (FCR) and specific growth rate in weight (SGRw) were varied significantly among different foods (P >0.05). Comparative benefit-cost analysis showed that use of chicken intestine as feed in crab fattening attained higher net profit than crab fattening used tilapia and apple snail s feed from 7-12 days fattening period The present study revealed that utilization of chicken intestine as feed for mud crab fattening might be better than any other feeds and cost effective in Bangladesh. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2019, 5(4): 303-315