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). A group of triplicates 80 catfish per tank were randomly assigned 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 on fish fed 34% CP: 39% DP: 12.4% DE. The optimum FCR was reached on fish fed 36% CP: 41% DP: 12.4% DE whereas PER in fish fed 34% CP: 39% DP: 13.3% DE. Meanwhile, fish fed 36% CP: 41% DP: 12.4% DE resulted significantly highest FE. However, the SR of fish was not affected by any combination of CP: DP: DE. This finding indicated that diet 34% CP: 39% DP: 12.4% DE is the optimum combination in enhancing the growth of catfish.