Effects of fish oil replacement with palm kernel oil as lipid source on the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings

Abstract

Fish is one of the cheapest and direct sources of protein and micro nutrient for millions 
of people in Africa. This study investigated the effects of dietary palm kernel oil on 
growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings with the goal of replacing dietary 
fish oil with palm kernel oil . A 56 day feeding trial experiment was conducted using 20 C. gariepinus fingerlings in each of the five different net happas representing four 
treatments and the control experiment. The fish were fed at 5% body weight twice a day 
while monitoring the water quality parameters to determine the various growth parameters. 
The treatment with 40% and 60% replacement has the highest mean weight gain of 5.50g±0.01 
and 5.30g±0.01 respectively while the treatment with 100% replacement has the least mean 
weight gain of 4.89g±0.07. Dietary palm kernel oil had significant effect on growth rate or feed conversion ratio. Thus, it is better to culture C. gariepinus with diets compounded with palm oil.

Key words: Palm kernel oil, replacement, treatment, growth, C. gariepinus, fingerlings.