Rohu Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) changes feeding strategy throughout its ontogeny: An explanation from feeding ecology

Sandip Majumder¹ , Neha Majumdar² , Pinki Ghosh³ , Surjya Kumar Saikia⁴ , Samar Kumar Saha⁵

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Isroset-Journal
Vol.5 , Issue.4 , pp.92-96, Aug-2018

CrossRef-DOI:   https://doi.org/10.26438/ijsrbs/v5i4.9296

Online published on Aug 31, 2018

Copyright © Sandip Majumder, Neha Majumdar, Pinki Ghosh, Surjya Kumar Saikia, Samar Kumar Saha . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Labeo rohita is a popular Indian major carp species in carp polyculture practice. It is known as water column feeder which feeds on plankton. In the juvenile and adult stages rohu is essentially an herbivorous column feeder, preferring algae and submerged vegetation. Under natural condition, in fingerling stage, it prefers zooplankton, with phytoplankton as subsidiary food. At this stage it exhibited a strong positive selection for all zooplanktonic organisms and smaller phytoplankton. Adults show a strong negative selection for all zooplanktonic organisms and positive selection for most phytoplanktonic organisms. However, in periphytic environment, it ingests sub-periphytic organisms present in proximity to substrate. In conclusion, it is agreed that L. rohita exhibits different feeding strategy during its growth from fingerling to adult and also from planktonic to periphytic environment. Adoption of a fish culture strategy according to its differential feeding strategy would maximize in converting naturally available resources to fish biomass especially in polyculture practice.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Indian Major Carp, feed selectivity, resource-partitioning, polyculture, periphyton, phytoplankton

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