Growth performance of the African catfish,&lt;i&gt;Clarias gariepinus&lt;/i&gt;, fed varying inclusion levels of&lt;i&gt;Leucaena leucocephala&lt;/i&gt; leaf meal

S Amisah,Jk Ofori,Ma Oteng

doi:10.4314/jasem.v13i1.55257

Abstract

The efficacy of treated Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal as an ingredient in diet of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, of mean weight 40.18±0.51g was evaluated over a 90-day growth period. Fourexperimental diets were formulated at 0% (control), 10%, 20% and 30% inclusion levels of treated Leucaena leaf meal. Leaves were treated by soaking in water for 3 days and sun-drying for another 3 days. A control diet of fish meal with fish meal serving as the only protein source was formulated. All diets were isonitrogenous (30% protein). The 90-day feeding experiment was conducted in concrete tanks, each treatment having three replicates. Fish fed 20% Leucaena leaf meal recorded the best growth performance in body weight gain and Specific Growth Rate (SGR), although the best Feed conversion Ration (FCR) was recorded for fish fed on the control diet of 0% Leucaenameal. There were no significant differences between fish fed the control diet and the other experimental (P>0.05). The study demonstrated that Leucaeana leucocephala leaf meal may be included in the diets of Clarias gariepinus at inclusion levels of up to 30% but it is efficacious and cost effective at 20% inclusion level. It is, therefore, recommended that Leucana leucocephala leaf meal be used to partially to replace the expensive and imported fish meal.

Highlights

Nutrition with the possibility to reduce the total dependence of fish farming on fish meal in several locations in Ghana
The growth performances of Clarias gariepinus in response to difference inclusion levels of Leucaena leucocephala meals are presented in the sections that follow: Growth performance Growth performance of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, fed varying quantities of feed containing Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal (LLM) over a 90day period is presented (Table 2)
Fish fed with LLM at 20% inclusion level gave the best growth performance which was marginally better than those fed on fish meal without the leaf meal (0% LLM)

Summary

Introduction

Nutrition with the possibility to reduce the total dependence of fish farming on fish meal in several locations in Ghana. Leucaena leaf is known to contain about 22.7% crude protein (Atawodi et al, 2008) and survives well on degraded soils which are low in nutrients. It has bipinnate leaves, lanceolate leaflets and has flat pods containing small seeds. In Ghana, imported fishmeal, mainly from Israel and Brazil, is used in commercial production of catfish as the major source of protein. The high cost of fishmeal makes commercial production of catfish capital intensive as it accounts for between 30 and 60 % of variable operating cost (Desilva and Anderson 1995) This has motivated the search for, local, cheap alternative sources of protein that aim to reduce production cost without compromising fish quality. (b) Examine the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fed varying inclusion levels of Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal

Methods

Results

Conclusion