DIETARY EFFECTS OF PROCESSED AFRICAN PALM WEEVIL (RHYNCHOPHORUS PHOENICIS) LARVAE AND PHYTO-ADDITIVES ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND NUTRIENT UTILIZATION OF CLARIAS GARIEPINUS JUVENILES

EFFECT OF AFRICAN PALM WEEVIL ON GROWTH OF MAGUR

Abstract

A feeding trial was carried out for 70 days to examine the dietary effects of using processed African Palm Weevil Larvae with phyto-additives in the diet of Clarias gariepinus juveniles. Seven experimental diets with three replicates per treatment containing 45% crude protein were formulated, six of these diets contained processed African palm weevil larvae with phyto-additives as TEL (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Telfairia occidentalis), CYM (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Cymbopogon citratus), COR (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Corchorus olitorious), CORCYM (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Corchorus olitorious and Cymbopogon citratus), TELCYM (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Telfairia occidentalis and Cymbopogon citratus) and TELCOR (Rhynchophorus phoenicis with Telfairia occidentalis and Corchorus olitorious) while the diet with fishmeal served as control. A total of 420 juveniles, mean weight 7.51±0.01 were obtained and 20 fish were allotted into a circular basket each. Each basket were embedded into a polygon tank filled with water. The mean weight gain was significantly different (P>0.05) across the fish fed experimental diets, with highest mean weight gain (32.28g) recorded in the COR group and the lowest mean weight gain (19.82g) recorded in the CORCYM group. The Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) were significantly different (P>0.05) across the experimental groups. The highest FCR value (1.59±0.02) was recorded in the control group and the lowest FCR value (1.27±0.03) was recorded in the COR group. There were no significant differences (P<0.05) in the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) among experimental groups. The physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen were within optimum range for Clarias gariepinus. From this study, it could be concluded that processed African palm weevil larvae with phyto-additives can successfully replace fishmeal in the diet of Clarias gariepinus juveniles.