Effect of feeding Artemia Urmiana cysts on performance and survival of Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius) fish at the larva stage

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding different levels of Artemia Urmiana cysts on performance and survival of Caspian brown trout fish. The treatments included different levels (25, 50, 75 and 100 %) of Artemia Urmiana cysts to Caspian brown trout fish with an average weight of 120 ± 25 g in active phase of larva stage until the weight of one gram. Feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG), body weight (BW), feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR) of the treatments were determine and the survival percentage index was calculated based on the number of remaining larvae in the sites on the total number of larvae. The result of study showed that the higher feed intake was for 25 and the lower feed intake was for 50% of Artemia urmiana cysts treatments. Also the best specific growth rate and feed conversation ratio was related to the 25 % of Artemia Urmiana cysts groups (P≤0.05). Additionally the best survival index was for fish that fed by 75% and the worst survival index was for fish that fed by 100% of Artemia urmiana cysts. In conclusion we could demonstrated that feeding Artemia Urmiana cysts may have some beneficial effects on the performance and survival of Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius) fish at the larva stage.