Sprouted grains offer many benefits when fed to fish: good palatability, and they promote fattening and weight gain

    According to practices in various regions, using sprouted feed (that is, sprouted grains, hereafter referred to as grain sprouts) to feed fish not only provides rich nutrition, good palatability, and promotes fattening and weight gain, but also significantly improves fish meat quality, making the flesh tender, fragrant with a hint of sweetness, and incomparably delicious. In addition, feeding fish with grain sprouts can ease the shortage of concentrated feed and green feed, and the raw materials are abundant and feeding is convenient, so it is worth promoting.

Feeding the fish

    I. Benefits of feeding fish with grain sprouts:

    After grains sprout, their original nutritional structure and value are significantly improved and enhanced, making them an excellent feed for supplementing fish vitamins. Research has proven that raising fish with grain sprouts can promote the transformation of nutrients and metabolism within the fish body, enhance skin antibacterial ability, and especially play an important role in the pre-spawning conditioning of feeding fish such as carp, bream, and grass carp, and can increase spawning rate, fertilization rate, and survival rate. The types of vitamins in grain sprouts vary with the length of the sprouts. Therefore, feeding should be managed specifically according to need. When sprouts are 0.5-1 cm long, the vitamin E content is high, making them suitable for pre-spawning conditioning of brood fish. For male fish, they can improve semen quality, and for female fish, they can promote egg development and increase egg fertilization rate. When sprouts are 2-3 cm long, they are relatively rich in vitamin B, can promote appetite, help digestion, and are suitable for raising adult fish. When sprouts are 3-10 cm long, vitamin A accounts for a large proportion, plays an important role in fish growth and development and disease resistance, and is a good bait for raising adult fish, brood fish, and reserve brood fish. Using grain sprouts to raise fish, generally 3-4 kg of grain sprouts produce 1 kg of fish. Grain sprouts can be fed directly to fish as bait, or used as a vitamin additive in combination with other baits to improve feed utilization.

    II. Method for making grain sprouts:

    The raw materials used in production as grain sprout feed include the seeds of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, and corn, among which barley and wheat are most commonly used. The method for making grain sprouts is basically similar to growing bean sprouts and soaking seeds to accelerate germination. First, screen the raw material seeds to remove impurities, wash them in warm water, dry them, then soak them in 20-25°C water. After they have absorbed enough water, wrap them well with burlap pieces, gauze, etc. to accelerate germination, spraying about 30°C warm water 4-6 times per day and night, and turning and mixing them appropriately. After 2-3 days, when the raw material seeds have grown root hairs and embryos, the gauze and burlap pieces can be removed, and clean warm water should be sprinkled morning and evening each day. After 3-5 days, when tender sprouts have grown, they can be fed as needed.

    III. Feeding techniques for grain sprouts:

    (1) Feeding targets: There are many fish that like to eat grain sprouts, including grass carp, carp, and bream. Therefore, these kinds of fish are the main focus. However, according to dissection findings, black carp, silver carp, and bighead carp also eat grain sprouts. (2) Feeding time: The feeding period for grain sprouts is long, from late April until early November. (3) "Three fixeds" for feeding: To improve the utilization rate of grain sprouts, when feeding, one must fix the location, fix the time, and fix the quantity. The daily feeding amount is generally suitably 5% of the total fish weight. (4) Reduce waste: To prevent underfeeding or overfeeding, during the initial feeding, check the feeding situation 4 hours after feeding the grain sprouts. If no leftover grain sprouts are seen at the feeding site, the feeding amount should be appropriately increased. If a relatively large amount of grain sprouts remains at the feeding site, the feeding amount should be reduced. If only a small amount of grain sprouts is seen, it indicates that the feeding amount is basically appropriate.