PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, VISCERAL FAT AND ORGANOSOMATIC  INDICES OF Clarias gariepinus FINGERLINGS REARED AT DIFFERENT TIMES

Authors

Twelve-weeks feeding trial was conducted using completely randomized design with experimental plastic

containers (50 litres with water level at 35L) to investigate the proximate composition, visceral contents, fats and

the condition factor (K) of African catfish Clarias gariepinus. Coppens was used to feed triplicate groups of 15

fish having four treatments. Fish were fed the diet to satiation once a day (morning), once a day (night), twice a

day (morning and night) and thrice a day (morning, afternoon and night). The feeding schedules showed

significant differences (p>0.05) on the body composition, organ indices, eviscerated carcass composition, viscera

lipid and liver lipid. The result of the proximate composition showed all the treatments having significant

differences (p<0.05) in their nutrient utilization. T1 showed significantly higher (p<0.05) nutrient utilization for

moisture, lipid, ash and energy, while carbohydrate was significantly higher (p<0.05) in T2. Protein content was

highest in T4, while fiber was significantly higher (p<0.05) in T3. The results showed that T4 had the highest

condition coefficient which was >1 and differed significantly (p<0.05) among the treatments. The visceral content

of C. gariepinus at the end of the study revealed that T1 had the highest indices with respect to other feeding

treatments, however, these differences were only significant in (p<0.05) HSI, VSI and CY. This study revealed

that feeding of C. gariepinus to satiation thrice a day yielded the best condition among the various feeding

strategies experimented. Considering the importance of nutrition to fish growth, this study recommends this

feeding strategy to farmers

Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Environmental Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo

Department of Fisheries Technology, Federal College of Fisheries and Marine technology, Victoria Island,

Lagos

Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Environmental Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo.