Carcass composition and product quality of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed varying dietary inclusion levels of blood meal

Abstract

The study evaluates the carcass composition and product quality of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings fed varying dietary inclusion levels of blood meal at different level of inclusion for 49 days. Six diets of approximately 40% crude protein were formulated with Fish meal, Blood meal, Soybean meal, Corn meal, Palm oil, Table salt, vitamins C, Bone meal, vitamin/mineral premix and starch, which served as the binder were used as feed ingredient, at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% levels. One hundred and eighty Clarias gariepinus fingerlings with mean length of 5.64±0.11cm and mean weight of 1.49±0.05 g were used for the experiment respectively, all treatment was in three replicates of 10 fingerlings each, using eighteen plastic aquaria of 250x150cm dimension. The fish were fed at 5% body weight twice daily within the experimental period of 49 days. There were significant differences (p