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An 18-months field trial was performed to explore the effect of duration of stunting on growth, digestive enzymes and carcass quality in Chanos chanos. Milkfish fry (weight of 1.25 ± 0.03 g and length of 5.53 ± 0.03 cm) were stocked in earthen ponds of 0.02 ha, in triplicate, for different duration of stunting, viz., 4 months (Treatment-1; T4), 8 months (Treatment-2; T8) and 12 months (Treatment-3; T12) and a normal seed (Control; C) separately. In the stunting phase, fish were stocked at higher stocking density (0.2 million/ha) and fed de-oiled rice bran at sub-optimal level. Post-stunting or re-feeding phase commenced immediately after completion of respective stunting duration and fish were reared for the rest of the period to complete the total rearing period of 18 months. In post-stunting, fish stocking density was adjusted to (5000 pieces/ha) and fed at an optimum level (3%). At the end of stunting phase, the study found a significant reduction in growth, survival, digestive enzymes activity, except protease in the T4 group, and carcass nutrients composition of stunted fish. However, in the initial phase of post-stunting, T8 group exhibited an elevated specific growth rate (5.00 ± 0.092%/day), body weight gain (80.82 ± 1.28 g), amylase (0.585 ± 0.021 U/mg protein), protease (5.48 ± 0.13 U/mg protein), and lipase activity (7.92 ± 0.32 U/mg protein). All stunted fish groups displayed a compensatory growth response in post-stunting, but a complete growth compensation was observed in T8 group, which resulted in better feed conversion ratio (3.03 ± 0.04) feed efficiency ratio (0.33 ± 0.01), protein efficiency ratio (1.91 ± 0.03), survival (91.38 ± 0.07%) and digestive enzyme activities. Similarly, at the end of post-stunting, carcass analysis revealed a complete restoration of nutrients in stunted fish and significantly higher protein content in T8 group. Further, the study found lower meat and higher bone contents in normally reared fish than the post-stunted fish which revealed the carcass quality improvement in post-stunted fish thus indicates superiority of the stunting process over normal rearing. Overall, the study suggests that stunting of milkfish, for 8 months (T8), positively affects its growth, survival, digestive enzyme activities and carcass quality which in turn, shall help to overcome the contemporary challenges in milkfish culture.

The study was conducted to investigate the expression and activity of key lipolytic enzymes during the ontogenetic development of Clarias magur. After partial characterization, the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression analysis of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), pancreatic triacylglycerol lipase (PL), and bile salt-activated lipase (BAL) genes along with the specific lipase activity were performed in larvae from Day 1 after hatching till 34-day posthatch (dph). Heterogeneous patterns of mRNA expression were shown by the important lipolytic enzymes and were detected before first exogenous feeding during the yolk-sac stage. LPL started increasing from 13 dph and peaked at 16 dph followed by a declining trend till 34 dph. However, the PL observed to be peaking at 9, 22, and 30 dph. Similarly, BAL showed an increasing trend from 11 to 22 dph with a significantly high level of mRNA expression at 16 dph. Later, the specific lipase activity was evaluated which appears at Day 1 after hatching with a progressive increase from 7 to 16 dph and a further declining trend afterwards with a peak at 22 dph. The results indicated the development of exocrine pancreas at 16 dph. Furthermore, the transcript levels and the activity of lipases were regulated with the age. Hence, the present study can be helpful in devising different strategies containing optimum lipid levels at a suitable stage of development for improving the survival during larval rearing. Furthermore, the study could be a baseline for elucidating the optimized dietary lipid levels of this catfish during its larval rearing., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)