An investigation on the use of Prosopis juliflora pods as a carbohydrate source supplemented with probiotics in the diet of Labeo rohita fingerlings

The present study investigated the use of fermented Prosopis juliflora pods (PJP) as a carbohydrate source, alternative to rice bran (RB), and a PJP based diet formulation supplemented with probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA), Lactobacillus bulgaricus 009 (LB) and Streptococcus thermophilus (ST) on the growth of Labeo rohita (rohu) fingerlings. The diets were isonitrogenous (39%) and isoenergetic (15.9 KJ/g gross energy); and were prepared using RB (as reference diet RD), crude pods (PJPC), fermented pods (PJPF) and with probiotics LA (PJPLA), LB (PJPLB) and ST (PJPST). The results showed that fermentation of PJP with LA significantly increased protein, lipid, Ca, Fe, Mg, K and reducing sugar; and completely eliminated (P