Categories
vol-2EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON FEEDING THE
COMMON CARP CYPRINUS CARPIO L.
IN EGYPT
By
H. M. BISHAI,
Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt, A,R.E.
M. M. ISHAK W. D. LABIB
Institute of Oceano~raphy and Fisheries, Academy of Scientific
Research, and Technology, Egypt, A.R.E.
[:’IiTRODUCTlO~
The productivity of water bodies, i.e. lakes, pond’! and stream’! is measured
in rates of reproduction, growth and survival of living organisms. These rates
depend to a large extent on the amount and quality of food present. Fish a<;well
as other animals require balanced diets of certain amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins (DAVIS, 1956).
For pisciculture, some species require supplementary feeding to obtain higher
yield, while others can be maintained exclusively on artificial food (HIOKLING,
1962). Fish diets are usually prepared from a variety of ingredients of vegetabla
and animal matter or a combination of both. Laboratory and field studies have
been carried out on the growth of the common carp Cyprinus carpio L. in many
parts of the world and under a variety of environmental conditions (SCHAPRRCLAUS, 1933 & 195!: WUi\TDER, 1949 ;KURONUMA,1954-;VAAS&SACHLAN,
1956; BONDl et al, 1937; HICKLING, 1962 and CHERVINSKI et al, 1968).
SCHAPERCLAUS (1933) showed that supplementary feeding for the carp
Cyprinus carpio L. not only allows a greater stock density, but also stimulates a
better assimilation of the available natural food. Similar results were reported
by other investigators (Y.L\.SHOUV,1956: BROWN, 1957 and ALIKUNHI,
1957).
Several food material have been used as feed for carp in Europe. These
include bran, brewers, grains, barely, oats, wheat, rice and maize that are given to
the fish without further preparation. Waste-products of oil extraction from some
seeds are also used, but these products induce a strong taste to the fish flesh.
Lupine seeds are considered the best food for carp in Germany (SCHAPERCLA US,
1933). In Japan, fresh and dried silk worm pupae, in addition to rice bran are
important fishfood for carp and eel (HIGURASHI & NAKAI, 1924 and FUJITA,
1933). In the Indo-Pacific area, HORA & PILLAY (1962) indicated that
the common carp can be fed in a variety of artificial foods such as rice bran and
different kinds of oil cakes. They added that shrimp wastes mixed with flour
and corn meal make a good feed for carp. In Israel, sorghum and pelleted proteinrich diets have been used as food for carp (HEPHER & CHERVINSKI, 1965
and CHERVINSKI et al. 1968).
In Egypt, rice bran and mixtures of rice bran and cotton seed-cake are used
as supplementary food for carp (EI-BOLOCK & LABIB, 1968). However, there
are no recorded data on the efficiency of these materials as diets for the fish ei’her
in quality or quantity. The main objectives of this study are:
(i) to evaluate the efficiency of rice bran, cotton seed-cake and different
mixtures of both as food for carp, and (ii) to find out the level of feeding giving
the best growth at a low cost
