#trash fish

Mud crab (Scylla serrata) farming is one of the main sources of livelihood in Calauag, Quezon. Commonly, they use trash fish as their major source of feeds for mud crabs. However, fluctuation on its prices happen because of supply and demand, thus the use of other natural feeds were conceptualized. This aimed to determine if there are significant differences on the weight, protein content and meat characteristics of mud crabs fed with different natural feeds. It also aimed to assess the profitability of mud crab farming in plastic cages using different natural feeds. The experiment was laid out in Complete Randomized Design with three treatments replicated thrice: T1 – trash fish, T2 – horn snail meat and T3 – yellow corn. Results revealed that mud crabs fed with horn snail had the highest weight and protein content as compared to the other treatments. Hence, had the highest ROI. While, in the sensory analysis of its meat characteristics, mud crabs fed with yellow corn had the highest mean which was rated as very much juicy, flavorful and very much acceptable.