C.E. Tossavi^1,2 , A.S.M Djissou¹ , N.I. Ouattara² , E.D. Fiogbe¹ , J.C. Micha³

1 Laboratoire de Recherches sur les Zones Humides, Département de Zoologie, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université d’Abomey – Calavi, B.P. 526 Cotonou, Bénin
2 Laboratoire d’Hydrobiologie, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, 22BP: 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire
3 University Namur, URBE, Bruxelles Street, 61 B-5000 Namur, Belgium
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2020, Vol. 10, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/ija.2020.10.0001
Received: 03 Apr., 2020    Accepted: 17 Apr., 2020    Published: 17 Apr., 2020

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Tossavi C.E., Djissou A.S.M., Ouattara N.I., Fiogbe E.D., and Micha J.C., 2020, Effect of dietary protein on growth, feed utilization and body composition of silver catfish Schilbe intermedius Rüppel, 1832 Fingerlings, International Journal of Aquaculture, 10(1): 1-9 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2020.10.0001)

The captive breeding of the Silver catfish Schilbe intermedius was envisaged to promote the aquaculture and to reduce the overfishing of this endangered species. S. intermedius fingerlings were fed various dietary protein levels to investigate their growth performance, feed utilization and carcass proximate composition. Fish meal and casein were the sources of protein used in the study. Six isocaloric experimental diets containing 25%~60% crud protein (CP) diet have been  fed to three-replicate six groups of forty (40) fishes (mean weight: 1.640 ± 0.015 g) for 8 weeks. Both percent weight gain and feed efficiency ratio significantly increased with increasing dietary protein levels up to 45%, while there were no significant differences for protein levels from 45 to 60%. Growth performances and nutrient utilization parameters of fingerlings fed different diets varied significantly (P < 0.05) and the highest growth performance and nutrient utilization were obtained with fish fed on a 45% CP diet. The second order polynomial regression between dietary protein and specific growth rate (SGR) indicated that protein requirements of S. intermedius fingerlings ranged from 42.5 to 53% of diet. The highest protein content of the fish carcasses was found in fish fed 45% dietary protein and there was not significantly different (P > 0.05) with that of fish fed 60% dietary protein. Lipid content increased with increasing dietary protein levels. The dry matter and protein content of the initial sample were significantly higher (P > 0.05) than the values after feeding the fish with experimental diets.

Schilbe intermedius; Protein requirements; Growth performance; Isocaloric experimental diets; Feed conversion ratio