Abstract:

This study was designed to evaluate the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed watermelon seed meal as substitute for soybean meal. Five diets of 35% crude protein were formulated with watermelon seed meal replacing soybeans at 25% (DT2), 50% (DT3), 75% (DT4), 100% (DT5) and control diet 0% (DT1) had no inclusion of Watermelon seed meal. Twenty fingerlings were randomly allocated in replicate for each treatment in outdoor hapas and fed 5% body weight throughout the study period of 8weeks with weekly weight measurement and appropriate feed adjustment. The mean weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio were highest in DT2 (5.05g, 0.019 and 0.96 respectively) while lower values were recorded in DT5 (3.31g, 0.014, 0.80 respectively). Superiority of protein in soybean as well as anti-nutritional factor present in the raw watermelon seed meal and high fiber contents of diet are envisaged as reasons for better performance of diet with no or lesser water melon meal inclusion, hence it inclusion should be limited to 16% for better growth performance of Clarias gariepinus.

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