Akintayo I.A., Obasa S.O., Alegbeleye W.O., Bangbose A.M.
Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria; Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria; Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Agricultu
Akintayo, I.A., Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria; Obasa, S.O., Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria; Alegbeleye, W.O., Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria; Bangbose, A.M., Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria
A feeding trial was designed and carried out to assess the growth, nutrient utilization heamatological profile and yield of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fed graded levels of toasted sunflower seed meal based diets. One hundred and fifty (150) fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus (13.08±0.1g) were fed with five iso-nitrogenous diets containing 40% crude protein. The toasted sunflower seed meal (TSFSM) protein replaced fishmeal meal in the diets in the following proportions: Diet TSFI (0% TSFSM), Diet TSF2 (25%TSFSM), Diet TSF3 (50% TSFSM), Diet TSF4 (75% TSFSM), and Diet TSF5 (100% TSFSM). At the end of the trial, the mean weight gain of fish was highest in diet TSF1 (103.47g), and lowest in diet TSF5 (24.54g), with a significant difference (p<0.05). There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in mean weight gain (MWG) of fish fed diet TSF1 (and fish fed diet TSF2. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was best in fish fed dietTSF1 (1.18) but not significantly different (P>0.05) from fish fed diet TSF2 (1.28). The highest apparent net protein utilization (APP-NPU) of 25.00% was recorded in fish fed diet TSF1. It was significantly higher (P<0.05) than others, while the lowest value of 15.00% was recorded in fish fed diet TSF5. Heamatological parameters such as pack cell volume (PCV), heamoglobin (Hb) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) decreased as toasted sunflower seed meal increased in diet. PCV was higher (35.00mg/dl) significantly in fish fed TSF1 than the value of (31.00mg/dl) in fish fed diet TSF4. It was therefore observed that toasted sunflower seed meal protein can favourably replace 25% of fishmeal protein in the diets of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings.