Growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) juvenile fed cattle hoof meal reference and test diets

Cattle hoof meal was processed by autoclaving, fermentation, wood ash fermentation, soda ash treatment and rawunprocessed hoof. This was studied on Clarias gariepinus juveniles 14.22±0.23g stocked at 15 fish per tank in replicate. Treated samples were used in compounding six isonitrogenous diets of a reference diet 70%: test diet 30% and fed at 3% body weight. Significant difference (P<0.05) was observed among dietary treatments. Weight gain, specific growth rate feed conversion ratio percentage weight gain in soda ash diet was enhanced followed by raw hoof diet while wood ash treated diet showed the least response on fish growth. Fish carcass quality was enhanced with raw hoof treated diets over other diets. Utilization of soda ash treated hoof meal can be used in enhancing growth of C. gariepinus.Keywords: Cattle-hoof-meal; Fishmeal; haematology; keratin

Performance of Oreochromis niloticus juveniles fed autoclaved mango seed kernel diets

Human and livestock population increase has led to escalating prices of energy feed stuffs used in aquaculture. There have been some researches on various inexpensive agro-industrial by-products as substitutes for maize in fish diets with varying degrees of success. This study investigated the growth performance of Oreochromis niloticus juveniles fed with autoclaved Mango seed formulated fish diet as a dietary energy source at different inclusion level. 150 Oreochromis niloticus juveniles with mean weight of 10.24±0.05g were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5). The fish were acclimated for two weeks and were allotted to five treatments in plastic tanks (26x46x20cm). Each treatment contained 10 fish per tank. The fish were fed experimental diets at T1:0%, T2: 25%, T3: 50%, T4: 75% and T5: 100% Mango Seed Kernel Meal (MSKM) inclusion levels respectively. The highest Mean weight Gain (MWG) and lowest Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) was recorded in Treatment 2: 25% (48.93±4.88); (0.91±0.07) while the lowest MWG and highest FCR was recorded in Treatment 5: 100% (27.30±3.99); (1.47±0.16).  Specific Growth Rate (SGR) was lower in Treatment 5: 100% when compared to other treatments. Feed intake followed a decreasing order. The blood samples collected showed that there was significant differences (p0.05) In conclusion, growth performance and haematological activity could be best improved by substituting mango seed kernel meal at 75% with no implication on growth and fish health

African giant millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas) as non-conventional ingredient source in fish nutrition

Arthropods importance can be assessed for beneficial use especially in reducing dependence on scarce animal protein source especially fishmeal in aquaculture nutrition. Biochemical composition of African giant millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas) was conducted according to standard methods for proximate, phytochemical, mineral content, fatty acid and amino acid profile. Nutritional content analysis of millipede revealed crude protein of 63.24±0.05%, ether extracts 11.70±0.09% and metabolisable energy (kcal/kg) 3711.22±6.75. Phytochemical composition for phytate, saponin and chitin was high in millipede. Micro mineral content (mg/kg) indicated presence of manganese 36.00, iron 219.50, copper 9.30, zinc 20.60 while macro mineral (%) showed phosphorus 0.036, calcium 0.022, magnesium 0.204, potassium 0.810 and sodium 0.072 to be present in appreciable quantity. The fatty acid profile indicated palmitic and oleic acid to be high with least presence of butyric acid. The essential amino acid revealed high lysine 6.18 (g/100g) content and least tryptophan 0.68 (g/100g); while the non-essential amino acid glutamic acid 11.05 (g/100g) was high and cystine 1.21 (g/100g) least in millipede. The composition of millipede meal revealed potential use in fish nutrition

Increasing fish production through adoption of improved technologies in Ogun State, Nigeria

Technology is one of the crucial factor influences the aquaculture production; hence it is essential to encourage fish farmers to embrace modern methods of fish production by utilizing improved fisheries and aquaculture technologies This study assessed the factors that influence adoption of improved fish production technologies in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey design and data were collected through structured questionnaire administered to 150 fish farmers by adopting multistage sampling procedure. It was observed that majority of the respondents were male, married, literate and made use of family labor. The study also found that fish enclosure technologies, neutralizers/fertilizers, and fish stock selectivity/harvesting gear systems were distributed among fish farmers in the study area, with earthen fish ponds being the most widely adopted technology. Furthermore, the study revealed that fish farmers generally had positive attitudes towards the use of improved technologies. The study also found that high production costs were the most significant constraint to the adoption of improved technologies, followed by inadequate contact with extension agents and non-availability of input. The study conclude that the adoption of improved fish production technologies could increase fish production in Ogun State, Nigeria, but there is a need for interventions to address the constraints hindering the adoption of improved fisheries technologies in the study area

DIGESTIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF WATER HYACINTH MEAL IN THE DIETS OF Clarias gariepinus (BURCHELL, 1822).

Water hyacinth meal (WHM) as an alternative protein source was investigated in this study. Whole water hyacinth plant meal (WPM), water hyacinth leaf meal (WLM) and soya bean meal (SBM) were used to compound three isoproteic (40% crude protein) fish diets. Catfish of 11.2 ± 0.3g average weight were used for the 70-day digestibility study. Data were collected forthnightly on fish growth performance and water qualities (dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia and temperature). Fish, feeds, and faecal wastes were analyzed. Fish fed SBM-based diet had superior performance over those fed WHM-based diets with respect to Mean weight gain (MWG), Specific growth rate (SGR), Protein efficiency ratio (PER), Feed conversion ratio (FCR), Nitrogen metabolism (Nm) and digestibility coefficients (ADC).  Fish fed all diets exhibited marginal difference in total feed intake but growth performance and nutrient utilization were significantly higher in fish fed WLM than fish fed WPM probably as a result of high fibre content present in WPM. Extremely low value of ammonia was recorded in water under WPM treatment (0.18±0.06 mg/l) while water under WLM and SBM treatment had significantly higher values of ammonia 0.46± 0.13 mg/l and 0.71± 0.10 mg/l respectively. These observations may be due to the presence of significantly higher fibre content in the WPM than other meals. Consequently this could be responsible for its poor digestibility values but high potential for waste water purification. Water hyacinth leaf meal (WLM) would therefore serve a better option for adoption in ensuring maximum utilization potentials of the aquatic plant both for profitable and sustainable fish production

Pineapple Pomace as Replacement for Wheat Bran in a Practical Extruded Diet for Catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

This study investigated the effects of extruded pineapple pomace diet on growth and apparent digestibility coefficient of catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Four dietary extruded treatments of pineapple pomace Control (0%), T1 (10%), T2 (15%) and T3 (20 %) were fed ad libitum to catfish (21.05±0.04 g) for 60days. The final weight (53.52 - 57.45 g), weight gain (31.98 - 35.88 g) and feed conversion ratio (1.26 – 1.38) were relatively increased, while treatments up to 15% of pineapple pomace inclusion showed better performance. Fish survival rate (90.32 - 96.78%) showed significant difference. There were no significant differences (P0.05) in carcass composition among different dietary treatments. Apparent digestibility coefficient for crude protein, crude fibre and ash were highest in T2 (15%) and T3 (20%). The results indicated that pineapple pomace flour can be an ingredient in catfish diet for up to 20%. Key words: extruded; growth; apparent digestibility coefficient; carcass; proximate