Abstract:
Five (5kg) of raw mixed shrimp waste was fermented with 250ml of Lactobacillus plantarum, using 750g of cane molasses as carbohydrate source. After incubation for 14 days, a desirable and stable pH of 4.39 was attained, the product was co-dried with 15% (750g) hydrolysed feather meal. The blends were evaluated as protein providing 58.90% crude protein. The dried shrimp waste silage meal were incorporated as protein supplement into pelleted diets for catfish Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (12.05±0.03g) at 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% (diets 1- 6) as replacement levels for brown fishmeal (72% protein). The effects of the diets of the shrimp waste silage (diets 1-6) on the growth and economic performance of the catfish fingerlings were evaluated. Results showed that catfish fed diets 1- 6 (0- 40%) showed no significant difference (P>0.05) in food conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and apparent digestibility of nutrient (ADC protein) but there were significant difference (P<0.05) in protein productive value (PPV) among the(P>0.05) treatments.
However, the fingerlings fed diets 1- 5 (0-30%) showed no significant difference (P<0.05) in mean weight gain but differed significantly (P~0.05) with the mean weight gain of the fish fed diet 6 (40%). The result showed that the best profit margin would be realized by
feeding the catfish with 30% (diet 5) fermented shrimp waste silage meal. It was concluded that dried fermented shrimp waste silage meal is suitable and has a great potential feedstuff in African catfish diets up to 30% replacement for the highly expensive fishmeal.
