Assessment of growth performance of African catfish (Clariasgariepinus) fed with feed produced from blend of pigeon pea (<i>Cajanuscajan</i>) bambara groundnut (<i>Vignasubterranea</i>) and fish meal

Abstract

A 3-factor -factorial experiment (2^K) was designed to produce fish feeds from mixture of pigeon pea, bambara groundnut and fish meal as major ingredients, while maize, red palm oil, salt and micro nutrient pre-mix were added as minor ingredients. The raw materials were processed into flours. The ingredients were weighed out in various ratios and mixed. The mixture was extruded; sun-dried and packaged and labeled F1-F8 and a commercial feed labeled F9 served as control. The feeds were feed to juvenile Clariasgariepinus kept in 9 separate plastic bowels and fed for 42 days. The forty-five fish of uniform weight and age were grouped into 9 and stocked in the nine artificial ponds, each pond contained five fish. The feeds were analyzed for proximate composition, while the growth performance of the fish was evaluated at the end of the feeding period. Result showed that F3 (20g pigeon pea, 20g Bambara ground nut and 16g fish meal) contains the highest protein (33.14 %) and F1(20g pigeon pea, 30g bambara ground nut and 16g fish meal) the least (23.13 %). F3 exhibited the highest specific growth rate (1.14 %) followed by the F9 (control) which contains 1.09%. The highest weight gain (16 g) was observed in the fish fed the control feed. However, F3 and F4 (20g pigeon pea, 30g bambara ground nut and 18g fish meal) ranked next to the control with respect to growth performance. It is therefore possible to produce quality catfish feed from bend of pigeon pea, Bambara ground nut and fish meal.

Keywords: catfish, fish feed, bambara groundnut, pigeon pea, fish meal