EFFECT OF HEAT-TREATED SOYBEAN MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND NUTRIENT UTILISATION OF AFRICAN CATFISH (CLARIAS GARIEPINUS) FINGERLINGS

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of heat treatments of raw soybean seed meals (RSBM) on the growth performance and nutrient utilisation of African catfish Claras gariepinus. Six isonitrogenous (35% crude protein) diets were formulated. A diet containing fish meal and non -heated soybean as served as control diet. Raw Soybean seeds were heated in an auto seed dryer machine at 1300 C for 10-50 minutes represented by RSBM10, RSBM20, RSBM30, RSBM40 and RSBM50 respectively. These were used to partially replace fish meal at 18.85%. Each diet was fed to fingerlings with mean weight of 1.70g stocked 10 fingerlings/treatment in triplicate, fed twice daily for 56 days at 5% body weight. The Mean Weight Gain (MWG), Total Weight Gained (TWG), Total Feed Intake (TFI) and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) were determined. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA at (α 0.05). The highest TWG, MWG of 21.79±2.00g; 2.66g were from the fish fed RSBM40 diet and the least values were from the fish fed the control diet (15.63±2.00g; 1.43g) respectively. However, the fish fed RSBM50 diet recorded the lowest
TWG and MWG (16.55±20g; 1.61±006g) among the fish fed diets subjected to heat treatments. The same
trends were observed in TFI and PER, where the highest value was from the fish fed RSBM40 diet(308.70±00g; 2.2 6±00) and the lowest value (233.10±00g; 2.14±00) was from fish fed control diet. The improved performance of fish fed RSBM40 diet, revealed that the anti -nutritional factors were denatured at the optimum temperature for effective utilisation by the fish and decreased performance of the fish fed RSBM50 diet, showed that the nutrients were denatured at higher exposure time. Therefore, it’s
recommended that soybeans be processed at optimum temperature for 40 minutes by farmers for the best result in culturing C. gariepinus.