Effects of Blood Meal Inclusion Diet on Growth Performance, Feed Utilization and Survival Rate of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) in Concrete Pond

The inclusion of blood meal as a substitution for commercial fishmeal in the practical fish diets was evaluated in Clarias gariepinus juveniles (initial weight: 11.45±0.25g and initial length: 9.00±0.91cm) for a period of 39 weeks. The proximate analysis of blood meal had 50.04%, 4.95%, 0.98%, 3.05%, 16.51% and 19.00% representing value of crude protein, lipid, fibre, ash, moisture and nitrogen free extract, respectively. Five isonitrogenous diets (40% crude protein) containing  fishmeal which was replaced by blood meal at graded level of 0% as control, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%  were formulated. A total of 300 juveniles were used and randomly distributed into five treatments with each having triplicates of 20 fish per pond respectively. Fish were fed twice daily at 5% body weight in equal proportions at 8.00 am and 4.00 pm. At the end of the feeding trial, the results showed that growth performance were significant higher (p<0.05) in fish fed control diet (1263.55g) and 25% BM diet (1068.67 g), mean length gain (54.16 cm and 50.85 cm), protein efficiency ratio (31.59% and 24.22%) and percentage weight gain (11035.3% and 8476.03%) compared to other treatments diets with the lowest values of (675.35 g, 46.86 cm, 11.73% and 4190.63%, respectively) recorded in fish fed 100% BM diet. However, Feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate, average daily growth and survival rate were not significantly difference (p>0.05) in all the dietary treatments. The water quality parameters monitored were within recommended ranged and were not affected by the supplemented diets. It can be concluded that inclusion of blood meal up to 25% can efficiently replace fish meal without any deleterious effects on growth, feed utilization and survival rate. The use of blood meal as an alternative protein source in diets of farmed fish species will reduce the cost of feeds; boost the profitability and sustainability of the fish production.