Obomunu Bestman, Reginald Idodu Keremald and Ogaga Augustine Aghoghovwia

This research aimed to assess the growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings when fed varying levels of blood meal over a 49-day period. One hundred and eighty fingerlings, averaging 5.64±0.11cm in length and 1.49±0.05g in weight, were used. Six diets with approximately 40% crude protein were formulated using different ingredients, including fish meal, blood meal, soybean meal, corn meal, palm oil, table salt, vitamins C, bone meal, vitamin/mineral premix, and starch as a binder. These diets had blood meal inclusion levels ranging from 0% to 25%. Each diet was replicated three times, with 10 fingerlings per replication. The study found that the lowest survival rate (63.33±21.85%) was in fingerlings fed a diet with 25% blood meal, while the highest (93.33±60%) was in those fed a diet without blood meal. The highest weight gain (2.11±0.63g) was in fingerlings fed the diet with 25% blood meal, followed by 20% blood meal (1.81±0.47g), and the lowest (1.45±0.25g) was in the 15% blood meal diet. However, there were no significant differences between the treatments. In terms of specific growth rate, the highest (0.79±0.20%d-1) and lowest (0.50±0.20%d-1) values were observed in the 25% and 10% blood meal diets, respectively. There were also no significant differences in feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio between the treatments. Overall, the study suggests that blood meal can effectively substitute fish meal at a 25% inclusion level in fish feed production, potentially reducing costs without compromising fish growth or health.

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