Abstrato

A comparison of the growth of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, linnaeus, 1758) fingerlings fed blue crown® and skretting®.

JO Cheikyula, D Torsabo*, AV Nwabuike

A comparison of the growth of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings fed with Blue crown® and Skretting® commercial feeds was studied for a period of 8 weeks. A total of sixty fingerlings of Oreochromis niloticus were used. The treatments showed significant difference (p<0.05) in terms of the mean final weights of 5.23 ± 0.01 to 5.32 ± 0.01 for Blue crown® and Skretting® respectively and gain in total length by the fish with values ranging from 0.93 ± 0.03 to 1.13 ± 0.03 for Blue crown® and Skretting®. The SGR, GR, MFTL, MFSL, FCE and FCR showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between the two feeds. Some water quality parameters assessed during the experiment indicated that only the dissolved oxygen was significantly different between the two treatments (p<0.05) with values ranging from 4.44 ± 0.04 (Blue crown®) to 4.58 ± 0.04 (Skretting®). Since the growth of the fingerlings in both feed treatments did not differ when compared, it is inferred that the two feeds can be used in the culture of this species of fish.