This study was designed to evaluate the
growth performance of Clarias gariepinus
fingerlings fed watermelon seed meal as substitute for soybean meal. Five
diets of 35% crude protein were formulated with watermelon seed meal replacing
soybeans at 25% (DT2), 50% (DT3), 75% (DT4),
100% (DT5) and control diet 0% (DT1) had no inclusion of
Watermelon seed meal. Twenty fingerlings were randomly allocated in replicate
for each treatment in outdoor hapas and fed 5% body weight throughout the study
period of 8weeks with weekly weight measurement and appropriate feed
adjustment. The mean weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency
ratio were highest in DT2 (5.05g,0.019 and 0.96
respectively) while lower values were recorded in DT5 (3.31g, 0.014,
0.80 respectively). Superiority of protein in soybean as well as
anti-nutritional factor present in the raw watermelon seed meal and high fiber
contents of diet are envisaged as reasons for better performance of diet with
no or lesser water melon meal inclusion, hence it inclusion should be limited
to 16% for better growth performance of Clarias
gariepinus.
Subjects | Hydrobiology |
---|---|
Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 1, 2015 |
Published in Issue | Year 2015 |