Dietary Phosphorus Requirement of Fingerling Indian Major Carp, Labeo rohita (Hamilton)

Dietary phosphorus requirement of fingerling Labeo rohita (6.1 ± 0.13 cm; 1.88 ± 0.05 g) was quantified by feeding seven isonitrogenous (350 g/kg crude protein) and isocaloric (16.72 kJ/g gross energy) purified diets with different levels of phosphorus as 3.5 (basal diet), 4.6, 5.7, 6.5, 7.8, 8.9, and 10.1 g/kg. Triplicate groups of fish were fed at 0800, 1200, and 1600 h to apparent satiation for 8 wk. Live weight gain (LWG; 494.68%), specific growth rate (3.18%/d), feed conversion ratio (1.54), feed efficiency (0.65), protein gain (PG; 1.26 g/fish), protein efficiency ratio (1.86), and phosphorus utilization efficiency (98.78%) improved significantly ( P <  0.05), with increasing dietary phosphorus level up to 6.5 g/kg. However, phosphorus contents of vertebrae and scale increased significantly up to 7.8 g/kg. Dietary phosphorus levels significantly affected serum phosphorus concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity. Broken‐line analysis based on LWG; PG; and whole‐body, vertebrae, and scale phosphorus against dietary phosphorus indicated the optimal phosphorus requirement of fingerling L. rohita at 6.56, 6.58, 6.56, 8.02, and 8.44 g/kg diet, respectively. In order to restrict superfluous phosphorus in the diet, inclusion of 6.56 g/kg phosphorus is recommended for optimal growth of fingerling L. rohita .