Peer review

Open Access

High cost of feeds is a major problem to fish farming in Nigeria. In this study, the growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed graded levels of plantain peels (PPM) as a replacement for maize was investigated. Five diets were formulated and maize meal replaced at 0 %, 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % in PPMD1, PPMD2, PPMD3, PPMD4 and PPMD5 respectively. The feeding trial lasted for 56 days. Data collected were subjected to one-way ANOVA test. Results showed that fish on control diet (PPMD1) were significantly (p > 0.05) highest in weight gain(7.34 ± 0.09g)while the least weight gain was recorded among PPMD5 fish. Similar trend was observed in specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Packed cell volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (HB), Red blood cell (RBC), Mean corpuscular haemoglobin cell (MCHC), and Lymphocytes (20.67 ± 0.33, 7.77 ± 0.03, 1.80 ± 0.06, 35.57 ± 0.47, and 84.00 ± 0.58 respectively) were significantly highest (p<0.05) in PPMD4. MCV was highest in PPMD1 and lowest in PPMD4. MCH was significantly higher (p<0.05) in PPMD1 and lowest in PPMD3. White blood cells (WBC) was significantly highest (p<0.05) in PPMD3 and Neutrophils was significantly highest (p<0.05) in PPMD5. It was concluded that PPM compares favorably with maize and an optimum inclusion level 25% (PPMD2).

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