Effects of Dietary Protein Level on Growth Performance of Pre-growing Catfish Clarias jaensis (Boulanger 1909) in Captivity

Abstract

The study of the effects of the protein level on the survival rate, growth performance and the cost of production of pre-maturing Clarias jaensis fingerlings was carried out for 90 days at the Teaching and Research farm (5°36'-5°44'; 5°37'- 5°- 44'LN; 9°94' -10°06'and 9°85' - 10°06' LE; altitude 1392 -1396 m) of the University of Dschang. The aim of this work was to improve the production of this fish by determining its protein requirements. For this purpose, 360 Fingerlings of Clarias jaensis with an average weight of 23 ± 1.8 g and Total length 13.95 ± 2.90 cm were divided into 4 batches corresponding to diet containing 30; 35; 40 and 45% crude protein in the feed. The fish were fed twice a day at 5% of the ichthyobiomass and the quantity of feed where readjusted each month after biometrical monitoring. Data collected were analyzed by using SPSS 20.0 to test the effect of protein level on survival, growth characteristics and food production cost. The results obtained revealed that the lowest survival rate (80.03 ± 2.5%) was recorded with the 30% protein ration and the highest (89.23 ± 1.72%) with the 45% protein level in the feed. Feed intake and total length were not affected by the protein level in the feed. The highest weight gain (89.33 ± 1.99 g), mean daily gain (0.99 ± 0.05 g), specific growth rate (1.75 ± 0.10%), K factor (0.98 ± 0.23) were recorded with fingerlings fed 45% of crude protein in the diet (P<0.05). The lowest feed conversion ratio (3.32 ± 0.1) and protein efficiency ratio (0.67 ± 0.20) was obtained with the ration containing 45% crude protein and the highest feed conversion ratio (4.04 ± 0.05) and protein efficiency ratio (0.84 ± 0.12) with 30% crude protein (P<0.05). The Lowest cost for the production of a kg of body weight (606.03 FCFA ± 10.44) was obtained with the ration containing 30% protein but no difference was recorded between different feed. The study revealed that in the formulation of feeds for the Clarias jaensis fingerlings, 45% of crude protein will optimize survival rate, growth performance and cost production.