Combined effect of dietary l‐carnitine and ractopamine supplementation on growth and nutritional composition of Labeo calbasu (Hamilton, 1822)

The study determined the combined effect of dietary l‐carnitine (non‐essential organic nutrient) and ractopamine (feed additive) on growth performance and nutritional composition of Labeo calbasu. To ascertain this, a 60‐day feeding trial was carried out under a controlled condition where two hundred and twenty‐five healthy L. calbasu fingerlings (avg. wt. 3.47 ± 0.1 g) were divided into four treatments group and one control group in triplicate. Therefore, the respective combination of l‐carnitine and ractopamine diet was fed to L. calbasu fingerlings as C: control or basal feed without l‐carnitine and ractopamine; T1:1 g kg−1 l‐carnitine and 10 mg kg−1 ractopamine; T2: 2 g kg−1 l‐carnitine and 20 mg kg−1 ractopamine; T3: 3 g kg−1 l‐carnitine and 30 mg kg−1 ractopamine and T4: 4 g kg−1 l‐carnitine and 40 mg kg−1 ractopamine, respectively. Upon completion of the 60‐day feeding experiment, eight fish were randomly collected from each tank and subjected to a series of laboratory analyses. The study determines that T2 group fish significantly (p