Effect of alfalfa meal on growth performance and pigmentation of Yellow River carp

Chinese. 研究不同水平0％（对照组）、5％（试验Ⅰ组）、10％（试验Ⅱ组）、15％（试验Ⅲ组）和20％（试验Ⅳ组）的苜蓿（Medicagosativa L．）草粉对黄河鲤鱼（Cyprinuscarpio haematopterus Temminck et Sehlegel）生长性能及着色的影响。结果显示：试验Ⅰ、Ⅱ组平均日增重、特定生长率、增重率、饵料系数均优于对照组，但差异均不显著；试验Ⅲ组显著（P〈0．05）、试验Ⅳ组极显著（P〈0．01）低于对照组；在肌肉中，各试验组类胡萝卜素的含量均极显著高于对照组（P〈0．01），在皮肤中，试验Ⅰ组显著（P〈0．05）、试验Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ组极显著（P〈0．01）高于对照组；试验Ⅰ、Ⅱ组的饲料增重成本均低于对照组，但差异均不显著。综合表明，在鲤鱼饲粮中添加5％～10％的苜蓿草粉为宜。

English. Yellow River carp is one of the important fish in China and has high commercial value with golden skin and good production performance. The objectives of this paper was to evaluate the growth performance and pigmentation by feeding different levels （0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%） of alfalfa meal. 750 Yellow River carps （averaged initial body weight 248. 70 ± 1. 31 g） were randomly divided into the five treatments with three replicates each one. The results show that： 1. The daily gain, weight gain rate, rela- tive growth rate, and feed conversion ratio of the fish fed with 5% and 10% alfalfa meal were superior to those of the control group, however, there were no significant differences among those treatments. The indices of carps fed with 15 % （significantly）and 20% （extremely significantly）alfalfa meal were lower than those of the control group. 2. With the increasing levels of alfalfa meal in the diets, the content of carote-noid in muscle and skin decreased. In muscle, the content of the four tested groups were extreme-signifi-cantly higher than that of control group （P〈0.01）; in skin, the carotenoid content with 5% alfalfa meal （significantly） and the other three tested groups （extremely significantly） were improved than that of control group. 3. Compared with the control group, the economic profit of the Yellow River carps fed with diets containing 5% and 10% alfalfa meal was larger, however, there were no significant differences among those groups. In conclusion, feeding 5%～10% alfalfa meal was suitable for the carps.