Growth Responses of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings fed diets replacing Soyabean with Acacia Seed (Cassia fistula)

Abstract

This study determined the growth response of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed ground toasted Cassia fistula (CF) seed. Partial replacement of soyabean in the diet with varying levels of Cassia fistula seed meal at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% were carried out for 70 days. The fishes were fed twice daily to satiation. One hundred and twenty-six (126) fingerlings with an initial mean weight of 1.68±0.76 g were allotted at random to aquaria tanks of 25 L size. A total of 18 tanks was used with each tank containing seven fishes. Each of the six treatments was randomly allocated to three tanks as replicate. The six treatments (diets) were isocaloric and isonitrogenous containing 40% CP. The highest mean weight gains of 0.25 g was recorded in Treatment 3 and Treatment 4, they were not significantly different (P>0.05) from other treatments. The highest feed intake value (1.33 g) was recorded in Treatment 3 while the least value of feed intake (1.02 g) was recorded in the control diet. Survival among treatments slightly varied significantly (P<0.05) with treatments of 20%, 30% and 50% Cassia fistula diet having higher survival rates.