Water Stability and Nutrient Leaching of Different Levels of Maltose Formulated Fish Pellets

TL;DR

This study investigates how varying maltose levels in fish pellets affect water stability and nutrient leaching, revealing that maltose improves stability up to a point but can increase nutrient leaching at higher concentrations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into optimal maltose levels for enhancing fish pellet water stability and nutrient retention, which was not previously well understood.

Findings

Maltose improves pellet water stability significantly.

Higher maltose levels increase nutrient leaching.

Optimal maltose level balances stability and leaching.

Abstract

The effects of different levels of maltose on feed pellet water stability and nutrient leaching were studied. Five treatments, including control with three replicates with setup (0.0, 20, 25, 30 and 35%). Pellet leaching rates were used to indicate pellet water stability. The results show that the presence of maltose in the diets significantly improved pellet water stability (p<0.05), but the leaching rates of the feed (35% maltose) observed higher than other feeds. Increased maltose resulted in the corresponding decrease in pellet stability. The protein leaching rate of control feed and feed (20% maltose) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the rates of other diets The lipid leaching rate of control feed was lower than the rates of other diets, while the feed (35% maltose) was more leaching rate. It improved feeds water stability is one important reason why maltose enhances fish growth.