Growth performance and carcass composition of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fed different protein and energy levels

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary crude protein and energy levels on the live weight (LW), daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion rate (FCR), feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency rate (PER), survival rate (SR), specific growth rate (SGR), thermal growth coefficient (TGC) and carcass composition of catfish (Clarias gariepinus). In this trial a group of 80 catfish were randomly assigned per tank in 3 replicates and fed different levels combination of crude protein and energy, viz: three levels of crude protein (CP) (32; 34; and 36%) with digestible protein (DP) (27; 39; and 41%) and three levels of digestible energy (DE) (11.9; 12.4; and 13.3%) for 8 weeks. At the end of experiment, the results showed that the highest LW, DWG, SGR and TGC were found in fish fed 34% CP: 39% DP: 12.4% DE. The better FCR was reached in fish fed 36% CP: 41%DP: 12.4% DE whereas highest PER was in fish fed 34% CP: 39% DP: 13.3% DE. Meanwhile, fish fed 36%CP: 41% DP: 12.4% DE resulted in significantly higher FE. However, the SR of fish was not affected by any combination of CP: DP: DE. This finding indicated that 34% CP: 39% DP: 12.4% DE was the optimum combination in enhancing the growth of catfish.