Effect of dietary protein on the growth of spiny lobster Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus)

Feeding experiments were conducted on the spiny lobster Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus) with pellet diets containing three protein sources viz., fish meal (diet A), squid meal (diet B) and clam meal (diet C). The protein (%) and digestible energy levels (kJg super(-1) super()) were 34.2, 35.8, 35.5 and, 13.75, 13.95, 13.94 respectively for diet A, diet B and diet C. The results indicate that the clam meal diet gave the highest growth of 10.9% ( plus or minus 1.99), followed by squid meal 7.3% ( plus or minus 0.97) and fish meal 6.9% ( plus or minus 0.56). The protein energy ratio was almost equal for all the diets. The one - way ANOVA indicated that weight gain, protein efficiency ratio (PER) and food conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly different(p