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 (66.69a±17.44g), specific growth rate (3.80a±0.01), protein efficiency ratio (6.90a±0.01) as well as low feed conversion ratio (0.29a±0.01). Diet 4, containing 30% crude protein and 45% combined lipids of 59.45% gave a significantly low (p