Replacement of Soybean Meal with Palm Kernel Meal in Practical Diets for Hybrid Asian-African Catfish, Clarias macrocephalus × C. gariepinus

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A feeding trial was conducted with hybrid Asian-African catfish, Clarias macrocephalus X C. gariepinus, to determine whether palm kernel meal (PKM), a by-product of the palm oil industry, could be used as a partial replacement for soybean meal. Four practical diets containing 0%, 10%, 20% and 40% PKM, together with another two diets containing 20% and 40% PKM with 1.2% L-methionine, respectively, were formulated and fed to triplicate groups of hybrid Asian-African catfish fingerlings (mean initial weight of 5.6±0.9 g) for 7 weeks. All diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous (35% crude protein) and isoenergetic (15.1 kJ/g). Growth performance of hybrid Asian-African catfish fed up to 20% PKM was not significantly different (P >0.05) compared to fish fed the control diet without any PKM. Growth and diet utilization efficiency were depressed in fish fed 40% PKM diets. Supplemental methi-onine did not improve growth of hybrid catfish. The whole-body lipid and hepatosomatic index of fish fed high levels of PKM were significantly lower compared to fish fed the control diet. The hematocrits of hybrid Asian-African catfish were not affected by dietary treatments. The availability and low cost of PKM in many tropical countries makes it a viable partial substitute for soybean meal in the diets of hybrid Asian-African catfish.