DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2019.v07i04.005

Pages: 196-204

The study evaluated the effect of varying crude protein (CP) levels on the survival and growth performance of Clarias gariepinus reared in in hapas in earthen pond. The fish were stocked at the rate of 70 per 2 m by 2 m hapa net (0.5 mm mesh size) and fed on diets formulated from soybean, Caridina nilotica (Lake Victoria shrimps), cotton seedcake and wheat pollard. Vitamins and mineral supplements were incorporated at 1% each. Three groups of formulated diets of 35%, 30%, 25% CP and a commercial diet (28% CP control diet) with three replicates each, were fed to C. gariepinus with initial average weight of 3.0 ± 0.001 g and total length of 20 mm at an initial stocking density of 70 fish in a 2 m by 2 m hapa net. The hapas were placed in a 200 m2 earthen pond. The study was evaluated in terms of the growth performance of weight, length, feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed conversion efficiency (FCE), and survival rates of Clarias gariepinus when fed on varying CP diets. The data showed that C. gariepinus fed on locally formulated diets had a higher growth performance in respect to weight gain, length gain, FCR, FCE than those fed on commercial diet. Further, the survival of C. gariepinus fed on locally formulated feeds was comparatively higher than for those fed commercial feed. Of note, growth performance and survival of fish fed on 35% CP was the highest. These results demonstrated that C. gariepinus fed on locally formulated diets, especially 35% CP, exhibited higher growth performance in terms of the parameters above compared to those fed on commercial feed. Thus, locally formulated feed with about 35-25% CP could potentially be adopted as an alternative replacement to the commercial feed in C. gariepinus farming.