EFFECT OF REPLACEMENT OF WHEAT (Triticum aestivum l) BRAN FOR COCOA (Theobroma cacao) BEAN SHELL ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE, SENSORY EVALUATION AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF JUVENILE CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus)

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacement of wheat (Triticum aestivum l) bran for cocoa (Theobroma cacao) bean shell on juvenile catfish (Clarias gariepinus). There were five treatments with T1 (basal diet without cocoa bean shell which served as the control), T2 (basal diet with 2.5% of cocoa bean shell), T3 (basal diet with 5.0% of cocoa bean shell), T4 (basal diet with 7.5% of cocoa bean shell), T5 (basal diet with 10% of cocoa bean shell), the experiment was conducted for 63 days. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a completely randomized design (CRD) of five treatments and each treatment replicated thrice. The chemical analysis of the feed showed a decreasing trend in crude protein across the treatments from T1 to T5 and an increasing trend in crude fibre from T1 to T5. There were significant differences (p˂0.05) in the results of growth performance obtained from the experiment among the treatments except for the total feed intake (p˃0.05). The organoleptic results for each treatments shows that: T2 has the best color with a mean of 8.16, T3 has the best taste with a mean of 8.10, T5 has the best texture with a mean of 8.32, T3 has the best smell with a mean of 8.00, T5 has the best appearance with a mean of 8.45 and T3 has the best overall acceptability with a mean of 8.26, values obtained for mean weekly body length increment, mean weekly body width increment and mean weekly head and tail length were not affected by inclusion of CBS in the diets of catfish. The values obtained for carcass characteristics of catfish were not significantly different (P > 0.05) and so not affected by the treatments. Cocoa bean shell could be included in the diet of catfish up to 2.5 % inclusion rate without causing any deleterious effect on the growth of the fish.