GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF Heterobranchus bidorsalis FED DIET FORTIFIED WITH SOME SELECTED PHYTOBIOTICS (GINGER AND GARLIC)

ABSTRACT

The use of plant products as a replacement to synthetic therapeutic chemical agents have been used to improve the growth of some animals. This study investigated the effect of ginger and garlic as feed supplement for the culture of Heterobranchus bidorsalis. The ginger and garlic supplements were included in feed at 5% / 1kg of a commercial feed and fed to fish. 250 fingerlings size were cultured for 18 weeks in hapas suspended in concrete tanks. The fingerlings were allotted to four treatment and three replicates. The varying amount of ginger and garlic supplements per treatment were; 5% / 1kg feed for ginger, 5% / 1kg feed for garlic, 2.5% of ginger and garlic each per 1kg feed (combination) and a diet without the supplement as the control. Parameters considered in this research include growth performance (head length, total length, standard length and weight gain), survival rate and feed utilization. Results from the study showed that the supplement had a significant difference (p<0.05) across treatment compared to that of control. Means of growth rate across treatment revealed that the combination of ginger and garlic had the highest values as 33.66cm, 8.75cm, 28.94cm and 401.7g for total length, head length, standard length, and weight gain respectively. There was no significant difference recorded in the survival rate. Thus ginger and garlic had no negative influence on the fish. The test ingredient showed some level of significance on the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in treatment with the combination of ginger and garlic (3.0) compared to other treatment. Water quality parameters were also monitored throughout the experiment and the use of the phytobiotics did not affect the water quality. The combination of ginger and garlic was recommended as feed additive to improve growth performance.