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¹ Fish Nutrition Lab, Department of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
² Department of Wildlife and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
³ Department of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v18_4_07 Viewed : 4601 - Downloaded : 4116 A 90-days feeding trial was conducted to determine the influence of phytase on growth and mineral availability to Catla catla fingerlings fed mixture of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) and M. oleifera seed meal (MOSM) based diets. Due to the presence of anti-nutritional factors in plant by-products based diets, reduced mineral availability to fish results in poor fish growth performance. Phytase enzyme is beneficial to decrease these anti-nutritional effects of plant based diets. MOLM+MOSM mixture was used to prepare six test diets that were supplemented with graded levels (0, 300, 600, 900, 1200 and 1500 FTU kg^-1) of phytase. Fingerlings were fed at the rate of 4% live wet weight twice a day. On the basis of results it was noted that addition of phytase showed significant (p<0.05) enhancement in bioavailability of minerals, resulting in improved growth performance (weight gain 229%, SGR 1.32 and FCR 1.3). Maximum (ADC %) of minerals was noted at 900 FTU kg^-1 level of phytase supplemented MOLM+MOSM based diet. On the basis of these results it was suggested that phytase supplementation at 900 FTU kg-1 level is helpful to develop an eco-friendly and cost effective fish feed by using moringa by-products based diet. Keywords : MOLM+MOSM, Catla catla, mineral digestibility, growth performance, phytase