African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 3 (8), pp. 418-420, August 2004                      ISSN 1684–5315 © 2004 Academic Journals

Short Communication

Use of palm oil in the diet of the African mudfish, Clarias  gariepinus

K.B. OLURIN*, Y. AKINYEMI, O.Y. OBE and E.A.A. OLOJO

Department of Biological Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, P.M.B. 2002, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail address:  kbolurin@yahoo.com.

Accepted 14 July, 2004.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the substitution of fish oil with palm oil in the diet of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings over a 49 day period. Four diets were prepared with fish oil substituted with palm oil at 0% (control Diet 1), 25% (Diet 2), 50% (Diet 3) and 100% (Diet-4), using a completely randomised block design. Mortality was observed in all the treatments, while fish fed with 100% palm oil were most sluggish in accepting their feeds. Average weight gained, specific growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were not significantly affected by diet. It was concluded that palm oil can be substituted for fish oil in the diet of C. gariepinus.

Key words: African mudfish, diet, palm oil, growth.