Abstract

Effects of caterpillar (Imbrasia truncate Aurivillius, 1908) meal as a protein source in the diet of Oreochromis niloticus were investigated on growth performance, feed efficiency, whole body mineral composition and the cost/benefit analysis. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with duplicate observations (3 treatments × 2 replicates × 35 fish per hapa-in-earthen pond systems) during ten weeks of duration using an open system. Water temperature and dissolved oxygen ranged respectively between 27.7 to 28° C and 4.5 to 6.0 mg l-1. The Nile tilapia (12.67 ± 1.88 g initial body weight and 10.45 ± 0.03 cm initial length) were fed three times a day with three calculated isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets prepared by replacing fishmeal with caterpillar meal at 15% and 30%. The diets were coded T1 and T2 respectively. A control diet without caterpillar meal was coded T0. The fish fed with T1 and T0 diets were superior in specific growth rate (p<0.05) when compared with fish fed with diet T2 treatment. On the other hand, the feed utilization parameter: feed conversion ratio (FCR), did not show significant differences (p?0.05) between the fish in the control group and diet T1, although a significant difference between T1 andT2 treatments was observed.

Keywords

Growth; Feed efficiency; Body composition; Oreochromis niloticus; Caterpillar meal