Potential of cattle hair meal based diet as fishmeal replacer on physiology of <i>Clarias gariepinus </i> juveniles

Abstract

The Cattle hair meal (CHM) has the potential of usage as a dietary protein source in fish nutrition due to the qualitative nutrients present  in it and the enormous quantity generated at abattoirs worldwide. This study investigated the inclusion of CHM in diet of Clarias  gariepinus as fishmeal replacement. Catfish juveniles with average weight of 5.86±0.14g were stocked in 15 plastic tanks at 21fish/tank in  completely randomized design. The experimental fish were fed with 40% crude protein diet at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% inclusion of  CHM at 3% body weight for duration of 8 weeks. Growth performance, carcass quality, haematology, digestive enzymes, gut morphology  and histology of C. gariepinus were assessed. Growth parameters differed significantly (P<0.05) among treatments with similar responses  in carcass composition. The blood parameters, digestive enzymes and intestinal morphology also showed variations among treatments. Histological observation revealed that only diet with 25% CHM inclusion showed no alteration in tissues of kidney, liver and  intestine. This study recommends usage of CHM up to 25% as replacement for fishmeal in C. gariepinus diet.