Short Communication - Effect of Phytase Supplemented Diet on Whole Body Proximate Composition of Labeo rohita fingerlings

Phytate, bound form of phosphorus and some other minerals, is present in plant products and it cannot be consumed by fish because there is no phytase activity in agestric fish. This study was performed to determine the impact on proximate composition of whole-body of Labeo rohita (fingerlings) fed distiller's dried grains with solubles based diet, supplemented with phytase. Six different feeds were formulated by supplementing different concentrations of phytase. i.e. D1 without phytase supplementation, D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6 with 250, 500, 750, 1000 and 1250 FTU phytase per kilogram of diet, respectively. An experiment was conducted for 2 months. During this experiment, water quality parameters were also examined e.g ph, Dissolved oxygen and temprature. Results were examined by Tukey's honestly Significant Difference Test. Phytase supplementation decreased the moisture content and increased the crude ash, protein and fat significantly in proximate composition of whole-body of the fish and hence, improved the meat quality of Labeo rohita fingerlings. Keywords: Phytase, fish, Proximate composition, fingerling, Suplementation Aquaculture includes the rearing or culturing of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans and molluscs. For most of the aquatic species, a major portion (60%) of the farm production cost usually goes to aquaculture diet (Cheng and hardy, 2004). Considering the fish, aquaculture proves to be one of the most rapidly developing food industries in the world (Beveridge, 1984; Suguira et al., 1999). The main objective of aquaculture is to enhance the production of some required fish species to have maximum economic benefits (Goldburg and Triplett, 1997). In aquafeeds, fishmeal is considered as one of the most important protein sources because of its balanced amino acid content and some important growth factors absent in plant based protein sources (Kousoulaki et al., 2009). Energy, minerals and essential fatty acids are also abundant in it (Webster et al., 1995). Anyhow, increasing requirement of fish meal leads to its reduced supply and high cost. So, to overcome these problems, other protein sources are explored for aquaculture (NRC, 1981). Thus, cost effective proteins are obtained from the plant source and considered to be the best alternate to fish meal (Gaylord et al., 2006). Many sources of proteins are used for aquaculture but Distiller's dried grain with solubles (DDGS) is considered as a cost effective source of protein for aquacul