Fish Nutrition Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This research which lasted for 85 days, was done to compare the feeding effects of live Maggot and Vital feed on the growth and survival rate of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. One hundred thirty-five fingerlings of initial mean weight 1.33g were stocked in nine plastic containers (15 fish per container) and were fed 5% of their total body weight twice daily with Vital feed (Control diet), Live maggot meal, and a mixture of Vital feed and Live maggot meal at a ratio of 50: 50 as treatment A, B and C, respectively. Physico-chemical parameters of water (Temperature, pH, and DO), weight and length of fish were measured biweekly using a thermometer, pH meter, DO meter, sensitive weighing scale and measuring board. Other parameters, including food conversion ratio (FCR), food intake (FI), Specific Growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), percentage survival, mean weight gain and mean length gain, were also determined. Data for each parameter collected were subjected to one-way ANOVA at p<0.05 using the R statistical programming software. The result showed a mean final weight of 24.12g, 21.92g and 22.89g and a mean weight gain of 22.77g, 20.59g and 21.57g for Treatment A, B, and C, respectively. A mean length gain of 12.01cm, 10.80cm and 10.84cm and a mean specific growth rate (SGR) of 3.39, 3.28 and 3.33 for Treatment A, B, and C, respectively, were recorded. The feed intake was 46.57g, 43.91g and 44.96g, while the protein efficiency ratio (PER) was 1.02, 1.29 and 1.06 for Treatment A, B, and C, respectively. Whereas the feed conversion ratio was 0.51, 0.52 and 0.52, the Percentage survival was 91.11%, 88.89%, 91.11% for Treatment A, B, and C, respectively. Albeit Vital feed performed better than live Maggot, there was no significant difference at (P<0.05) in all analysed parameters. Therefore, Live maggot meal may not replace Vital feed in the rearing of Clarias gariepinus because Vital feed appears to have all the necessary ingredients required for fish growth in the right proportion. However, further research can be conducted to determine whether Live Maggot will perform better if processed into a protein source and mixed with other feed ingredients required for fish growth.