Pond farming of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), in northern Cameroon. Feeding combinations of cottonseed cake and brewery waste in fingerling culture, hand-sexed male monosex culture, and mixed culture with police-fish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell)

Abstract

Twelve production trials were analysed retrospectively, covering three different rearing methods in which Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), were fed with combinations or cottonseed cake and brewery waste. Highest extrapolated net pond productions, including tilapia recruits, were obtained in tilapia fingerling rearing (W0 <10 g; 11.8 t ha−1 year−1). Stocking African catfish, as police-fish (0.2 catfish m−2) in mixed tilapia (W0 > 90 g) culture was effective in controlling tilapia recruitment, but net pond production was low (4.1 t ha−1 year−1). Hand-sexing of male tilapias (W0 > 90 g) only limited recruitment but resulted in a significantly higher net pond production (8.6 t ha−1 year−1) than in mixed culture. Extrapolated marketable production in the treatment stocked with hand-sexed tilapia males (tilapia only) was also higher than the extrapolated marketable production in the mixed culture treatment (tilapia and catfish combined), although this difference was not significant. Extrapolated net pond production and extrapolated net tilapia production were both significantly correlated to the daily feeding rate of cottonseed cake but not to the daily feeding rate of brewery waste. The high relative FCRs of the feed mixture were probably due to the brewery waste.