Abstract

A 70 day feeding trial was conducted to assess the potential nutritive value of raw sunflower and sesame seed meal as dietary replacement of soybean meal in practical diets of Clarias gariepinus. All diets were prepared to be isonitrogenous, (40% c.p). Raw sunflower and sesame seed meal were used to replace soybean meal at a rate of 15, 30 and 45% respectively. The performance of the fish diets was compared to fish fed soybean meal based control diets containing 40% crude protein. Each treatment had three replicates using 15 catfish fingerling per tank with mean initial body weight of 3.28 ± 0.15 g. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in protein productive value, feed intake; specific growth rate, % weight gain and crude protein deposition between fish fed control diets and fish fed RSF₁₅, RSM_15, RSF_30, RSM₃₀ diets. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) was recorded between fish fed control diets and fish fed diets RSF₄₅ and RSM₄₅using the above indices.

Key words: Sesame, sunflower, growth performance, nutrient utilization, Clarias gariepinus.