The effect of fermented fish meal on the growth of golden Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus

The research was carried out to examine the effect of fermented fish meal on the growth of Golden Syrian Hamster, Mesocricetus auratus. The fish meal was mixed with 10% of molasses and 30% of distilled water. The mixture was then incubated at 22°C to 25°C temperature for 35 days. During the fermentation period, changes in nutritional quality and biochemical properties (pH, moisture content, crude fat, crude protein, ash, and energy value) were monitored as well as microbiological determination including total plate count. The results indicated that the pH decreased considerably until 4.52 and the microbiological characteristics showed a drastic increase in the probiotic count on PCA agar, 6.084 Log CFU/ml at day 35th . For total CP and histamine content, it has dropped to 5.0 % and 0, respectively. Restricted feeding trial was practiced with constant amount of feed given for both control and treatment group of hamster for 28 days. The results indicated that feeding of M. auratus using fermented fish meal showed a net increase in weight, however, below control. Based on the value of growth rate on the final week, M. auratus fed with fermented fish meal attained 2.43g per day which was
nearly significant (P = 0.040) to the 3.0g per day attained by M. auratus fed with commercial feed.