International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol.7, No.6, 42
-
50
42
Research Article Open Access
Effects of Basil Leaf (
Ocimum gratissimum
) as Dietary Additives on Growth
Performance and Production Economics of
Clarias gariepinus
Adewole A.M.
1
, Faturoti E.O.
2
1 Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria
2 Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol. 7, No.6 doi
Received: 27 Jan., 2017
Accepted: 20 Mar., 2017
Published: 26 Apr., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Adewole et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Adewole A.M., and Faturoti E.O., 2017, Effects of basil leaf (
Ocimum gratissimum
) as dietary additives on growth performance and production economics of
Clarias gariepinus
, International Journal of Aquaculture, 7(6): 42-50 (doi
Abstract
Synthetic antibiotics have been widely used in fish culture systems as performance enhancers and controlling stress.
These antibiotics are expensive and induce microbial resistance with consequent environmental effects. Phytogenic plants have
potential as alternative antibiotics, but there is little information on their utilization in fish nutrition. Therefore the evaluation of Basil
(
Ocimum gratissimum
) leaf meal on the growth response, nutrient utilization and production economics of
Clarias gariepinus
. In a
12 week feeding experiment, juveniles (n =20, weight:10.94±0.02 g) were used to assess the effect of different concentrations of
Ocimum gratissimum
at OGM1- OGM6; (0.00; 0.125; 0.25; 0.5; 0.10; 2.00%). A total of 120 fish were randomly allotted into
treatments in triplicates, fed twice daily at 5% body weight in completely randomized design. Data for the growth and nutrient
utilization parameters such as: Total weight gain (TWG), Total final weight (TFW); Mean weight Gain (MWG), specific growth rate
(SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR); and economic indices such as profit indices, (PI), were determined. Data were analysed using
descriptive statistics and ANOVA at α
0.05
. The highest TWG and FWG (916.67 ±17.98 g; 698.83±17.54 g) was from the fish fed
OGM2 diet and the least (137.92±2.97 g; -81.08±2.97 g) from fish fed OGM6 diet. While the highest MWG was from fish fed OG3
diet and the least was from OG6 diet. The fish fed OGM3 had the highest PI (5.72) and the least (1.53) was from fish fed OGM6 diet.
Therefore adoption of
Ocimum gratissimum
meal diet at the established dosages of OGM2 and OGM3 in sustainable catfish
production in Africa is being advocated based on its availability and profitability.
Keywords
Aquaculture; Herbal medicine; Catfish; Growth promotant and dosages
1 Introduction
Nigeria has a varieties of medicinal herbs spread over the country due to favorable weather condition. All these
herbs possess a number of chemical substances that facilitate their utilization in the treatment of poultry diseases,
poultry nutrition and help in reduction of cost in poultry (Akhtar et al., 1984; Nworgu et al., 2013) and in fish
(Adewole, 2014; Adewole, 2015). Additionally, most of these herbs have been known to have different arrays of
secondary metabolites, which gives them the unique properties of being used for various: medicinal and
pharmacological activities such as: antioxidant, antiparasitics and antimicrobial (Hamilton–Miller, 1995).
Furthermore, continuous research into plant bioactive materials known as phytogenic which serves as good
alternative to synthetic antibiotics which their utilization has led to the problem of microbial drug resistance and
residue in tissues of food animals (Taylor et al., 2010). Therefore, the need for animal / fish nutritionists to look
inward for alternative (Wei and Shibamato, 2007; Adewole, 2014; Adewole, 2015). Such alternatives feed
additives to synthetics are probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, enzymes and phytogenics (Windisch et al., 2007;
Ndelekwute et al., 2014; Adewole and Awosusi, 2015). Herbs (extracts and essential oils) fall into the class of
phytogenic compounds, being presently explored for use as feed additives and growth enhancers (Windisch et al.,
2007; Bello et al., 2012; Odoemelam et al., 2013). Some of these herbs are indigenous to Africa; they include
garlic (
Allium sativum
), bitter leaf (
Vernonia amygdalina
) and scent leaf (
Ocimum gratissimum
) among others
(Osuji et al., 1995).
