The Effect Of Farm Made Feed Supplementation With Tilapia Meal On Growth And Body Composition Of Clarias Gariepinus.

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted for 16 weeks in the laboratory of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike to evaluate the effect of the use of farm-made feed supplementation with tilapia meal on growth and body composition of clarias gariepinus in plastic containers. Different inclusion levels of tilapia meal in a 40% crude protein feed, at the same stocking density, and replicated thrice were used in the experiment. These were 10% and 5% inclusion levels. In a third treatment, the 40% crude protein meal composed from local feed ingredients was fed. In a fourth treatment, a commercially available feed (Coppens), whose performance was known, was used as control. ANOVA showed that mean weight gain and specific growth rate are significantly different among the treatments (p < 0.05). It was observed that treatment 4 had the highest mean weight, specified growth rate and survival rate of 141. 5g, 1.19 and 93.33% respectively when compared with other treatments.