Reassessment of phosphorus and nitrogen discharge from commercial carp feeds

ABSTRACT:   The present study, one in a series to clarify the phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) loading from carp culture, evaluated four commercial diets. The total and available P in these diets varied from 1.57 to 1.86% and from 0.38 to 0.87%, respectively. The control diet, selected based on an earlier experiment, contained 1.40% total P and 0.68% available P. The 7-week feeding trial was performed with juvenile carp. Superior feed gain ratio was obtained for the control diet (1.00) and it varied from 1.19 to 1.56 among the commercial diet groups. Similarly, the control diet showed higher rates of P absorption (43.8%) and retention (33.1%) than the rest (absorption: 18.1–40.9%; retention: 10.7–18.7%). Total P loading (kg/t production) was 10.0 for the control group but ranged from 19.1 to 25.0 among the commercial diet groups. Nitrogen absorption was not markedly different; however, fluctuations in retention resulted in N loading (kg/t production) that ranged between 47.1 and 66.3 among the commercial diets, higher than the 34.8 obtained for the control diet. The available P in the commercial diets rarely matched the requirement level, thereby negatively affecting the waste loading. The superior performance of the control diet underscores the fact that effective formulations help in keeping emission levels low.