Influence of Dietary Lipid Levels on Growth Performances, Survival, Feed Utilization and Carcass Composition of African Snakehead Parachanna Obscura Fingerlings

Abstract

| Five iso – energetic diets were formulated to evaluate the effects of dietary lipids levels on growth parameters, survival rate, feed utilization and body composition of African Snakehead Parachanna obscura fingerlings with initial body weight 7.69 ± 0.14 g. Experimental diets were formulated to contain graded levels of lipid (5, 7, 9, 11 and 14 g/100 g of diet). Each diet was tested in triplicate during 8 weeks. During the experiment, any mortality was registered. Growth performances and nutrient utilization parameters of fingerlings fed on different diets varied significantly (P <0.05). Highest growth performances and nutrient utilization were obtained with fish fed on a diet containing 7% of crude lipid. According to the broken line models used to analyze the relationships between the dietary crude lipid (DCL) and the specific growth rate (SGR), the maximum dietary crude lipid requirement is 7% of the diet.