ROLE OF PLANT BASED DIGESTIVE ENZYME 'PAPAIN' ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF FINGERLINGS OF COMMON CARP, CYPRINUS CARPIO

The present investigation was carried out to determine the role of plant based digestive enzyme 'Papain' on growth of fingerlings of Cyprinus carpio. Three diets were formulated by using papain from three different sources i.e papain powder @ 1.0%, unripe papaya fruit @ 1.25% and papaya leaf @ 2.5% and fed for a period of 150 days. Youngones of C. carpio fed the diet mixed with papaya leaf paste at a dietary level of 2.5% was recorded with highest weight gain (110.42%), Specific Growth Rate (3.13%), Protein Efficiency Ratio (2.22), Apparent Protein Digestibility (78.96%), lowest Feed Conversion Ratio (2.01) and showed significant differences with control. The physicochemical parameters were within the optimum range as desired for fish culture practices. Papain did not affect the water quality parameters and had no adverse effect on feeding response of fish. These results combined with remarkable acceptability of diets containing different sources of papain indicated the potential role of papain enzyme in augmenting delivery of nutritional support by ensuring the digestion of needed nutrient inducing growth performance.