Effect of Differently Processed African Yam Beans (Sphenostylis stenocarpa Harms) on Performance of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Juveniles

ABSTRACT

A 12-week feeding trial was conducted in 27-cm3 circular plastic tanks (50 × 34 cm) to assess the performance of juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed diets containing African yam bean meals (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) processed by different techniques. Five 35% crude protein diets were formulated containing no yam bean meal (control) or 34% fishmeal and 66% yam bean meal. The yam bean meals were processed in four manners: (a) ‘cooked’, sun-dried, and ground, (b) ‘toasted’, cooled, and ground, (c) ‘soaked’, cooked, sun-dried, and ground, (d) soaked, ‘dehulled’, cooked, and ground. Each treatment was replicated thrice, each replicate contained 15 fish (3.97±0.03 g, 8.70±0.97 cm). Fish were fed thrice daily at 5% of their body weight per day. Fish fed the control diet perfomed better (p