Comparative Assessment of Growth Potential of Low-cost Formulated Diet for Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Production

A comparative assessment of growth potential of low-cost formulated diet for catfish (Clarias gariepinus) production was conducted using a low-cost formulated diet and commercial fish feed (Multifeed). An experiment was carried out to determine the effect of the locally-formulated feed and the commercial feed on the weight and length of catfish samples at 3% body weight (b.w) and 5% body weight (b.w) respectively. Forty (40) juvenile catfish samples, with average weight of 8.07g and average length of 10.01cm, were stocked at the rate of 10 fishes per tank (4 tanks in all and 2 tanks per group). Each group has 2 treatments (3% b.w and 5% b.w) for weight and length respectively. 1 group was used for the actual treatments, while the other group was used for control treatments. The fishes in the actual treatments were fed with the low-cost formulated diet while the fishes in the control treatments were fed with commercial fish feed (Multifeed). The duration of the experiment was eight weeks. Results indicated that the average weight of the fishes for control treatments increased from 7.14g – 55.10g for treatment A1 (3% b.w), from 11.43g – 56.60g for treatment A2 (5% b.w). The mean values for actual treatments for weight of fishes ranged from 6.57g – 32.3g for treatment B1 (3% b.w) and from 7.14g – 34.50g for treatment B2 (5% b.w) respectively. The mean values of control treatments of A1 (3% b.w) and A2 (5% b.w) for the length of the fishes increased from 10.08cm – 19.71cm and 10.93cm – 20.20cm. The treatments B1 (3% b.w) and B2 (5% b.w) produced a corresponding increase from 9.54cm – 17.00cm and 9.50cm – 17.80cm respectively. However, the commercial fish feed comparatively showed greater growth potential than the locally-formulated diet for catfish production.

Keywords: Aquaculture, Body weight, Catfish, Commercial fish feed, Fish farming, Local fish feed.