CHAPTER THREE

3.0

MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1

EXPERIMENTAL UNITS

The project was carried out at the Department of Fisheries Technology, Lagos State Polytechnic,
Ikorodu. Five (5) Fibre tanks were demarcated into three (3) different cells with the use of
Wooden planks and net with their respective measurement. The Diameter of the Fibre tank :
190cm, Depth of the Fiber tank 90cm and they were filled with 2000 liters of water.
3.2

EXPERIMENTAL DIETS AND FEED FORMULATION

Cashew nuts were collected from Oko Oba Ogijo, Ogun State. The Cashew nuts waste were
sundried, grinded and mixed with other feed ingredient. Other feed ingredients were purchased at
Sabo market, Ikorodu, Lagos State. Five experimental diets were formulated with varying levels
of cashew nut waste meal substituting soyabean meal. Diets 1 was designated as the control with
no inclusion of cashew waste meal while diets 2,3,4 and 5 were formulated with cashew nut
waste meal substituting soyabean meal at 25, 50, 75 and 100% respectively (Table1).
3.3

EXPERIMENT FISH AND MANAGEMENT

Three hundred (300) post juvenile Clarias gariepinus were obtained at Loko farm at Fish Farm
Estate at Odogunyan of Ikorodu North local Govt. of Lagos state. On arrival, the fishes were
allowed to acclimatize to the experimental site for one week before being exposed to the
experimental diets. Sixty (60) post juvenile fishes with approximately average weight of 9.4+_
0.1gm each were allotted to each treatment and twenty (20) fishes per replicate. Feeding was
done twice daily by feeding at the rate of 5% body biomass and were adjusted as the fishes
increases in body weight.

19

Data on economics of production of Clarias gariepinus on the various dietary levels of cashew
waste meal are respectively presented in Table 3. All parameters measured were not statistically
different from one another except total feed cost per fish. Total cost of feed consumed per fish(N)
were significantly (p<0.05) reduced as the percentage substitution of cashew nut waste meal for
soya bean meal increased from 25 to 100% in the diet, this presenting an inverse relationship
with the mean returns on feed (N). Though diet 2,3 and 4 are comparable; diet 3 seemed to be the
most economically advantageous.
Table 3: Economic performance of Clarias gariepinus fed varying levels of soyabean meal
replaced with cashew nut waste meal.
T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

SEM

Cost/kg of feed

3.056

2.982

2.999

2.936

2.885

0.015

Cost/g of feed

0.003

0.003

0.003

0.003

0.003

0.000

Total feed cost per fish (kg)

0.740

0.679

0.726

0.691 0.634

0.021

Total feed cost per fish (g)

0.195a 0.178ab 0.176abc 0.145bc 0.139c 0.007

Selling price/g of fish(N)

0.500

Selling price/fish

29.009 29.544 30.877 29.967 27.534 1.090

Return on feed in kg

28.270 28.865 30.151 29.823 26.900 1.070

Return on feed g

28.814 29.366 30.702 29.823 27.395 1.085

Total cost of feed in kg

41.420 38.038 40.670 38.716 35.498 1.194

Total cost of feed in g

0.041

ab :

0.500

0.038

0.500

0.041

means is a row, with different superscript are significantly different (<0.05).

19

0.500 0.500

0.039 0.035

0.000

0.001