Growth Performance and Carcass Composition of Clarias gariepinus Fingerlings Fed Dietary Plant and Animal Lipids

An experiment to study the growth of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed different practically sourced dietary lipids was conducted with the aim of establishing a preference for either animal or plant lipid for 70 days. Fingerlings with mean weight of 28.66 ± 0.5 g were stocked at random to seven diets in triplicate groups with eachdiet having five fingerlings and were fed with isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets containing 40% crude protein (CP) with varied lipid sources of 8%. Diet 1 (Palm oil), Diet 2 (soya bean oil), Diet 3 (groundnut oil), Diet 4 (Beef tallow), Diet 5 (Pork lard), Diet 6 (Cod liver oil) and Diet 7 as Control (zero oil supplement).

Result showed that there were significant differences (P > 0.05) in feed conversion ratio (FCR) and specific growth rate (SGR) among the Diets. FCR was more efficient in diets containing beef tallow, Ground-nut oil and control (zero oil supplements). Mean weight gain was not significantly different from diets fed with palm oil, soya bean oil, beef tallow, and control (no oil supplement) based diet. Diets fed with groundnut oil and pork lard were significantly (P < 0.05) different from diets fed with cod liver oil. Mean weight gain was higher in fish fed with pork lard and beef tallow (9.85% and 9.01%) respectively and lowest in fish fed with cod liver oil (7.39%). Relative weight gain (RWG) showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) between fish fed with palm oil and soya bean oil based diets. However, fish fed with cod liver oil, beef tallow and control (zero oil supplements) based diet were significantly different (P < 0.05) from fish fed with pork lard based diet.