Effect of replacement of soybean meal with beniseed (<i>Sesamum indicum</i>) meal on the growth and haematology of African catfish (<i>Clarias gariepinus</i>)

Abstract

A 56 day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the suitability of sesame seed meal (SSM) as an alternative to soybean meal (SBM) in the diet of Clarias gariepinus juveniles. Five isonitrogenous, (41% C.P) diets were prepared with SSM replacing 25, 50, 75 and 100% SBM component of the diets. Diet with 0% SSM served as the control. The fishes with mean initial weight of 28.7 ± 0.83 g were fed 5% of their body weight daily. The highest mean weight gain was in the control diet and differed (p < 0.05) significantly with other diets except for 25% SSM. Food conversion ratio was lowest in the control diet with 1.4 ± 0.17 and highest in 100% SSM with 7.09 ± 0.28. The relative growth rate of the control was comparable to 25% SSM. However, they differed (p < 0.05) significantly from other treatments. The haematological analysis showed significant (p < 0.05) difference over the fish fed control diet with respect to Packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (Hb), white blood count (WBC), red blood count (RBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Whereas, PCV, Hb, WBC and RBC values decreased with increase in the levels of sesame seed meal in the diets, MCH and ESR increased. Hence, the inclusion of sesame seed meal up to 25% is recommended in the diet of Clarias gariepinus juvenile, since this inclusion level did not exhibit any negative effect on the fish health.