地理ジャーナルと自然災害
オープンアクセス

概要

Growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus (Burchell)) fed different castor seed (Ricinus communis L.) contents

Agboola EO*, Owoeye OA, Balogun JK, Ota J, Abdullahi SA

An 84-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate raw and boiled castor seeds ( Ricinus communis L.) as diets for Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) juveniles weighing an average of 9.55 g ± 0.24 g. Fish were divided into five treatment groups. Fish in the five treatment groups, each with three replicates, were fed a 37% crude protein experimental diet containing raw castor seed meal (D1) and seed diets boiled at 100ºC for 20 (D2), 35 (D3), 50 (D4), and 65 (D5) min, respectively. Diet 1 (D1) served as a control and was fed to fish in the first treatment group. Castor seeds served as an isonitrogenous protein source in the experimental diets. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in mean weight gain (MWG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) of experimental fish fed diets D2, D3, D4 and D5. The highest weight gain, SGR, FCR, PER, net protein utilization (NPU) and digestibility were recorded for diet D4 containing castor seeds boiled at 100ºC for 50 minutes. Therefore, boiling castor seeds at 100ºC for 50 minutes appears to be the best method of processing castor seeds by boiling.