An investigation on the use of Prosopis juliflora pods as a carbohydrate source supplemented with probiotics in the diet of Labeo rohita fingerlings

The present study investigated the use of fermented Prosopis juliflora pods (PJP) as a carbohydrate source alternative to rice bran (RB), and a P. juliflora pods based diet formulation supplemented with probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA), Lactobacillus bulgaricus 009 (LB) and Streptococcus thermophilus (ST) on the growth of Labeorohita (rohu) fingerlings. The diets were isonitrogenous (39%) and isoenergetic (15.9 KJg-1 gross energy); and were prepared using rice bran (as reference diet RD), crude pods (PJPC), fermented pods (PJPF) and with probiotics L. acidophilus (PJPLA), L. bulgaricus (PJPLB) and S. thermophilus (PJPST). The results showed that fermentation of P. juliflora pods with L. acidophilus significantly increased (p<0.05) protein, lipid, Ca, Fe, Mg, K and reducing sugar; and completely eliminated phytic acid. The diets PJPF and PJPLA produced significantly higher (p<0.05) percent weight gain, SGR, FCR and PER as compared to PJPC, PJPLB and PJPST diets; and achieved growth performance comparable to RD. An improvement (p<0.05) in the carcass protein has been detected in groups PJPF and PJPLA in comparison to RD, PJPC, PJPLB and PJPST. The L. acidophilus was found to be effective in controlling coliform count in gut as compared to L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus; and also in controlling total viable count, total coliform count and fecal streptococci count in fecal matter. The results indicate that PJPF and PJPLA deserve further investigations as alternative feed for rohu.