Evaluation of feather meal as a dietary protein source for African catfish fry, Clarias gariepinus

Abstract

Animal by-products including Feather Meal (FTM) have shown very promising findings when included in aquaculture feeds. However, their use is limited to a few fish species only. More studies are needed to investigate the full potential of this by-product. In the present study, a total of six diets were formulated to replace fish meal protein with FTM at levels of 0% (FTM0), 20% (FTM20), 40% (FTM40), 60% (FTM60), 80% (FTM80) and 100% (FTM100). Danish fish meal was used as a sole protein source in the control diet. All diets were isonitrogenous (40% protein), isolipidic (12% lipid) and isoenergetic (380 kcal/100 g diet). The fish growth performances and feed utilization were negatively affected with the increase inclusion levels of FTM in the diets. The feed intake dropped drastically when the FTM protein inclusion levels were increased up to 40-100%. The significantly high fish mortalities and retarded growth in FTM40-FTM100 treatments were suggested as a result of starvation, due to the extremely low feed intake. The low FCR, PER and NPU of fish from these treatments also indicated that the feather meal protein could not be digested and utilized well by the fish. Therefore, inclusion of the FTM protein in diets for the fry of C. gariepinus should not be more than 20% to maintain good growth and survival of the fish. © 2013 Academic Journals Inc.