ABSTRACT

Growth performance is an essential aspect of aquaculture production as this measures the biomass production. A ten-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fed various supplementary levels of Chitin and Chitosan extracted from Periwinkle shells. A total of five hundred and seventy-six juveniles were allotted to six varying treatments consisting of the basal diet (negative control), Chitin at 3% and 6%, Chitosan at 0.03% and 0.06% and the basal det plus 0.08% Terramycin as Treatments 1,2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Thirty-two fingerlings were stocked in 18 plastic tanks and the treatments were replicated three times. At the end of the feeding trial, the growth parameters determined were weight gain, relative weight gain, specific growth rate, survival rate, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in all the growth parameters across the various treatments. The highest weight gain (207.33g) was observed in Treatment 3 (basal diet + 6% Periwinkle Chitin) and the least value (129.89g) was recorded in Treatment 1 (basal diet). The increase in mean weight gain observed in the treatments supplemented with Chitin and Chitosan showed that the diets were nutritionally adequate. Treatment 3 (basal diet + 6% periwinkle chitin) had the highest relative weight gain of 71.81%. However, the least relative weight gain (60.37%) was recorded in treatment 1 (basal diet). In the same vein, highest specific growth rate (SGR) of 3.75 was observed in treatment 3 (basal diet + 6% snail chitin) while treatment 1 had least value of 3.04. There was no significant difference in the feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio amongst all treatments. The results show that fish fed with chitin and chitosan from snail shells performed well compared to the basal diet, thus making then a supplement of choice for aquaculture production.