THE GROWTH AND BODY COMPOSITION OF Clarias gapiepinus Juvenile FED COMBINED DIFFERENT SOURCES OF LIPID

A study of the growth and body composition of Clarias gariepinus juveniles 8.51 ± 2.29g fed combined different sources of lipid was carried out on a feeding trial that lasted for 56 days. Three diets containing varying protein levels (50, 40, 30%) with isolipid levels of 35.76, 47.61 and 59.45% respectively at different levels of inclusion of different sources of lipid which included Fish oil, palm oil and groundnut oil were formulated while a catfish commercial feed (multi-feed) was used control. The results indicated significant differences (p<0.05) in the growth parameters. Diet 2, containing 50% crude protein and 47.61% combined lipids exhibited significantly high (p<0.05) mean weight gain (66.69^a±17.44g), specific growth rate (3.80^a±0.01), protein efficiency ratio (6.90^a±0.01) as well as low feed conversion ratio (0.29^a±0.01). Diet 4, containing 30% crude protein and 45% combined lipids of 59.45% gave a significantly low (p<0.05) growth parameters. It is recommended that the inclusion of appropriate levels of combined lipid sources in the diets of Clarias gariepinus juveniles would spare protein for growth, thereby reducing its inclusion level in a diet.