Evaluation of full-fat
and defatted maggot meals in the feeding of clariid catfish Clarias gariepinus
fingerlings
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Aquaculture, Fisheries & Fish
Science
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General Aquaculture, Fisheries &
Fish Science
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Aquaculture Research
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Vol 34 Issue 9
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Abstract
Keywords:
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maggot meals;
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hydrolysed;
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defatted;
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full fat;
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sun dried;
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oven dried
Abstract
The nutritional
implication of processed maggot meals, hydrolysed, defatted, full-fat,
sun-dried and oven-dried, in the diets of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings were
evaluated. The nutrient density, proximate composition, gross energy and
mineral constituents of the maggot meals were determined. Five isonitrogenous
and isocaloric diets were formulated to provide 40% crude protein in which fish
meal in the reference diet was completely replaced by any of the following
processed maggot meals: oven-dried full-fat (ODM), sun-dried full-fat (SDM),
defatted oven-dried (DODM) and defatted sun-dried (DSDM) maggot meals
respectively. Fish were fed ad libitum in triplicate treatments for 56 days in
glass tanks. Biological evaluations of the fish were based on growth performance
and nutrient utilization indices. The result of the nutrient composition
analysis showed that processing methods of defattening and drying influenced
the nutrient density of maggot meal, with crude protein content ranging between
43.30% and 46.70% for full-fat sun-dried and hydrolysed/defatted oven-dried
maggot meals respectively. The result showed that growth performance and
nutrient utilization of fish fed DODM and DSDM dietary inclusions were not
significantly different and similar to fish fed the fish meal-based diet.
However, fish fed the diet containing SDM exhibited lower daily weight gain,
protein efficiency ratio and specific growth. Generally, fish performed better
when fed diets containing defatted maggot meals than full-fat maggot meal, and
compared favourably with fish fed the fish meal-based diet.