African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (18), pp. 2177-2183, 19 September 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Growth performance and nutrient composition of Bufo maculata (Linneaus) tadpole fed different practical diets as fish meal substitute

Sogbesan, Olukayode Amos¹* and Ugwumba, Alda Adhia Alex²

¹Department of Fisheries, Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa, Nigeria.

²Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: sokay_2003@yahoo.com. Telephone: +2348050957768.

Accepted 17 August, 2007

One thousand and one hundred (1,100) Bufo maculata tadpoles of weight range 0.03 -0.05 g (mean = 0.04 ± 0.008 g) and length range, 1.2 - 1.6 cm (mean = 1.4 ± 0.018 cm) were collected from the breeding tanks using scoop net and stocked into the outdoor concrete culture tanks coded according to the experimental diet at the rate of one hundred and twenty tadpoles of known weights and lengths per tanks and cultured for 84 days.  The growth performances, feed utilization and nutrient composition of the tadpoles (B. maculata) fed three experimental diets namely live zooplankton alone (D1), 40% crude protein National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFR) crumb diet alone (D2) and mixed diet (50% live zooplankton and 50% of dry 40% crude protein NIFFR crumb (D3) were studied. They were harvested after culture and processed into meal. The best mean weight gain (3.65 g/tadpole), specific growth rate (2.34%/day) and feed conversion ratio (2.05) were from tadpole fed mixed diets.

Key words: Bufo maculata, tadpole, growth, plankton, nutrient composition.