Effect of dietary protein and oil levels on growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) [electronic resource].

Includes reference.

This study was conducted in two separate experiments at Fish Research Center, Suez Canal University to investigate the effect of protein and oil levels on growth performance, survival rate, body composition and economical efficiency of fry and fingerlings catfish (Clarias gariepinus). In the first experiment, 900 fry of African catfish Clarias gariepinus with an average body weight (0.8 ± 0.2 g) were reared in six groups for 120 days under optimal conditions and fed on experimental diets contain 35%, 40% and 45% protein. Within each protein level, two oil levels (6% and 8%) were used, representing six levels of gross energy (GE), being (454.76, 465.88, 458.56, 470.16, 464.98 and 471.11 kcal /100g) with PIE ratios ranged between 76.96 to 97.64 mg protein I kcal. The results indicated that the highest growth performance, survival rate and economical evaluation were obtained in group of catfish fry fed diet containing 40% crude protein, 8% oil and 470.16 kcal/ 100g GE (pIE ratio of 85.50 mg protein / kcal). In the second experiment, 450 fingerlings with an average body weight (13.00 ± 0.2 g) were reared in six groups for 120 days under optimal conditions and fed on experimental diets contain 30%, 35% and 40% protein. Within each protein level, two oil levels (6% and 8%) were used, representing six levels of gross energy (GE) (451.10, 458.00, 454.76,465.88, 458.56 and 470.16 kcal /100g) with PIE ratios ranged between 67.20 to 88.10 mg protein I kcal. The results indicated that the highest growth performance, survival rate and economical evaluation were obtained in group of catfish fingerlings fed diet containing 35% cI1lde protein, 8% oil and 465.88 kcal/ 100g GE (P/E ratio of 77.10 mg protein / kcal). Therefore, it could be concluded that the requirements of catfish fry were (40% crud protein and 8% oil) and for fingerlings were (35% crud protein and 8% oil) in terms of growth performance, survival rate and economic evaluation under the same experimental conditions.

Summary in Arabic.

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