International Journal of Aquaculture, 2015, Vol.5, No.30, 1
-
6
1
Research Article Open Access
Nutritional Value of Kola (
Kola nitida
) Pod Husk Meal in the Diet of
Clarias
gariepinus
Juvenile
Mebude A.M.
1,
, Cheikyula J. O.
2
, Solomon .S.G.
2
1. Department of Agricultural Science Education, Tai-Solarin University of Education Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria
2. Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2015, Vol.5, No.30 doi
Received: 1 Sep., 2015
Accepted: 6 Oct., 2015
Published: 1 Dec., 2015
Copyright © 2015
Mebude
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
:
Mebude A.M., Cheikyula J.O., and Solomon .S.G.,
2015, Nutritional Value of Kola (
Kola nitida
) Pod Husk Meal in the Diet of
Clarias gariepinus
Juvenile,
International Journal of Aquaculture, 5(30): 1-6
Abstract
This study was designed to evaluate the nutritive potential of replacing Kola Pod Husk (KPH) with conventional and
increasingly expensive Maize meal in the diet of
Clarias gariepinus
. Diets were formulated with KPH meal replacing maize meal at
0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% and fed to the fish for 56 days. Result reveal a high level of protein in KPH (28.05) compared to
maize meal, nutritional trial further revealed that KPH could completely replaced maize meal without adverse effect on growth.
Carcass analysis of the fish fed 25% KPH however had the highest protein and lipid retention (17.17 and 4.28 respectively),
respectively compared to others. It was concluded that replacing maize meal completely with KPH improves growth and
performance of
Clarias gariepinus.
Keywords
Unconventional feed; African catfish; maize; growth performance
1 Introduction
The major recurrent cost in fish production is feed;
this alone has progressively taken the larger share
of the cost of production so much that total feed cost
accounts for over 60% of total production cost
(Balogun et al., 1992). Tiamiyu et al. (2007) had
reported that feed may account for between 60 – 80%
of production cost for fish hence, the need to focus on
least cost feed through the use of unconventional feed
stuff. Conventional feed ingredients used in fish
production are becoming increasingly expensive due to
competition from humans (FAO, 2002), therefore
efforts have been channeled to investigating other
alternative feed ingredient which are unconventional
in nature and are not edible by man as possible
replacement for conventional feed ingredients in
the diet of fish.
Many Agricultural by-products that are considered as
wastes in Nigeria have great potentials as animals feed
ingredients if properly handled, processed and
incorporated into rations. A good example of such
wastes is kola pod husk (KPH). Nigeria is one of the.
Largest producers of Kola and Kola pod husk, it
constitute 75% of the kola fruit. It has been reported
to have 13% crude protein and energy of 2546.9kcal/kg
(NRC, 1984) hence has h igh potential for
consideration as possible substitute to conventional
feedstuffs. The paucity of information on the nutritive
values of Kola pod husk in the nutrition of African
catfish necessitated this research which seeks to
evaluate the growth performance and nutrient
utilization of African catfish fed varying levels of
Kola pod husk as replacement for maize.
2 Materials and Methods
The study was conducted at the Fisheries research
farm University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State
using outdoor pond culture system with hapas (1m ×
1m ×1m) and lasted for a period of 8 weeks.
Clarias
gariepinus
juveniles used for this study were obtained
from the department of Fisheries and Aquaculture,
University of Agriculture, Makurdi, fish farm, they
were acclimatized for three weeks before randomly
distributing into the hapas. Ten juveniles of the same
mean initial weight were stocked in each hapa.
The nylon mosquito netting material was purchased
from North Bank, Market, Makurdi, Benue State of
Nigeria. A nylon twine was also purchased to anchor
the hapas firmly in the pond.
Fishmeal, vitamins and mine ral premix were
