Vol. 9, Special Issue 2, Part H (2025)

The research work was carried out to study the effect of fish meal replacement with deoiled and non deoiled silkworm pupae in the diet of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio). Five diets were formulated in which the fish meal protein was replaced with silkworm pupal powder at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% level of replacement. Common carp fingerlings were stocked in 30 litre circular drums for a duration of 8 weeks and fed twice daily with silkworm based diets. The analysis on growth parameters of fingerlings revealed that the fish fed with 20% deoiled silkworm pupae (AT2) showed the highest mean body weight gain (2.77 g) and mean body length gain (4.0 g), highest survival rate (86.6%) and protein efficiency ratio (0.79). Replacement of fishmeal with silkworm pupae powder upto 40% showed no negative effect on growth and development in fingerlings.

Hence the present study suggested that the silkworm pupae meal could be used as a substitute for fish meal in the diet of common carp upto 40% replacement with best result obtained at 20% replacement.