An Investigation of Mineral Supplementation of Diet on the Growth and Metabolism of Carp

Abstract

The importance of trace elements in animal metabolism is becoming more and more evident. Trace elements as nutrients play
a valuable role in the body, participating in the formation of
such highly active biological materials as enzymes, hormones and vitamins. Many investigations have been published on the effect
of trace elements on various animals. Recently, there have also
been experiments on fish, showing that trace elements influence
the growth rate and survival of fish. The difficulty in applying
trace elements lies in the dosage; only optimal concentrations
have beneficial effects.

The present investigation attempted to determine the optimal
concentration of cobalt and iodide for development and growth of
carp, Cyprinus carpio.

The results of the present study demonstrate that cobalt is
an essential trace element in the diet for carp. The fish fed a
diet containing no cobalt showed an extremely low growth rate and
high mortality. A large number of the fish on cobalt-deficient diet were found to suffer from malformation in the tail even when the diet was supplemented with vitamin B₁₂. The dietary cobalt also influenced the haematological characteristics
and strengthened resistance to disease in carp. The proximate
composition of the fish body and the contents of the cobalt in various organs varied according to the dietary cobalt levels in
the diet. Judging from the growth rate of the fish, an adequate
amount of cobalt, as cobelt chloride, in the diet of carp was estimated to be 3 mg per kg dry diet.

Date of Award	Sept 1980
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Aston University