Growth rate of Clarias Gariepinus fingerlings fed on imported and locally produced feed.

Abstract

Aquaculture production is considered the future solution to declining wild fish capture. However, insufficient production of fish is mainly due to lack of affordable quality feeds. This study investigated the growth performance of fingerlings of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed on imported and locally manufactured feeds. Six hapas were stocked with Catfish fingerlings and fed on the experimental diets with three replicates per treatment. A total of 210 fingerlings were stocked with 70 fingerlings per hapa. The experiment was conducted for a period of 6 weeks. Water quality parameters were recorded twice a week. The effect of different diets on specific growth rate (SGR%), survival rate (SR%) and water quality parameters was determined. indicated that water quality parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen and PH were within the acceptable range. Catfish fingerlings body weight increased progressively throughout the experimental period and was significantly higher at the end of the experiment (22.39±0.9577799) compared to the start of the experiment (2.4±0.02). There was a significant difference (P > 0.05) in Mean Weight Gain (MWG) and Specific Growth Rate (SGR) among the fingerlings fed on imported and locally manufactured feed. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in survival rate of fingerlings fed on imported and locally manufactured feed. The findings of this study suggest that the imported feed is a better alternative providing optimum growth performance, survival rate, nutrient utilization. However, it is also economically feasible to replace expensive imported feed stuffs with cheaper locally formulated feed, in order to reduce the cost of the feed.