Effects of replacing fish meal with cockroach (Periplaneta americana) meal in the diet of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings

This research investigated the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (mean weight 1.130.3g) fed cockroach meal (CM) as replacement for fish meal (FM). The fish were fed with three diets containing 45% crude protein; diet 1 (control 0% CM and 0% FM) diet 2 (10% FM, 0% CM), diet 3 (10% CM, 0% FM) for 56 days. The results showed significant differences (p<0.05) for the growth parameters evaluated for the treatments. Cockroach meal-based diet gave the best results in terms of mean weight gain (1.39+0.39g), food conversion ratio (2.54+0.15), specific growth rate (1.440.29%/day), protein efficiency ratio (0.87±0.20), apparent net protein utilization (16.23±7.19) and survival rate of 62%. This was followed by fish meal-based diet while the control diet gave a significantly (p<0.05) lower values. It can be concluded from the study that cockroach meal can substitute fish meal at 10% inclusion level. However, further study can be conducted for higher inclusion levels of cockroach meal in the diets of C. gariepinus. Keywords: Insect meal, protein, catfish, feed, growth