Growth Performance of African Mud Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) Fed Fish Oil-Based Diets

Abstract

Fish oil in appropriate variation in the diet of Clarias gariepinus has not been fully exploited. This study evaluated growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fed fish oil-based diets for 10 weeks (70 days). Four diets containing 40% crude protein were formulated to contain 0% fish oil (0%FO) control, 3% fish oil (3%FO), 6% fish oil (6%FO) and 9% fish oil (9%FO) respectively. Feeding of the fish was done twice in a day at 5% body weight. The feeding ration was adjusted bi-weekly based on the weight gain. The growth parameters, such as, total weight gain (g), mean weight gain (g), specific growth rate (%), were considered and calculated using standard methods. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) (P<0.05) using Duncan multiple range test. The results showed that there were significant differences (P <0.05) in the growth parameters of fish fed fish oil-based diets in comparison to the 0%FO fed group. It was recorded that fish fed 3%FO had the highest (325.00±1.15g) final weight gain; followed closely by the 0%FO fed group (310.00±1.15g) and the lowest mean value (237.00±0.001g) was observed in fish fed 9%FO. Water quality parameters recorded no significant (P >0.05) differences in the treatments. The addition of fish oil in fish feed formulation as an alternative for vegetable oil at 3% inclusion, increased the growth performance of C. gariepinus. Therefore, these findings suggested that fish oil, often considered waste during fish smoking processing, is a valuable resource in fish feed formulation due to its nutritional quality and the sustainable utilization of this product should be encouraged.