Can Powdered Microencapsulated Whole Egg, Ulva lactuca and Grasshopper Improve Growth Performance and Economic Viability of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Fry?

Clarias gariepinus fry requires feed that is rich in protein and essential fatty acid, but protein-rich feed is quite expensive especially when derived from animal origin. The present study aims to find less expensive feed for fry affordable for C. gariepinus farmers. About 3600 fries (Weight =1.49±0.03 mg) produced artificially, were stocked in twenty-four plastic containers (measuring 30×35×24cm). The containers were divided into eight treatments (T₀ to T₇) in triplicate. Seven different powdered feeds F₁ to F₇ (prepared from Ulva lactuca, Grasshopper and chicken egg) were respectively fed to the fry in the seven treatments T₁ to T₇ against Artemia Shell free as a control (T₀) for two weeks. The results obtained revealed significant differences in terms of growth and economic response among the experimental treatments (P<0.05). The finding shows reduction in feeding costs from 54.90% in control to 19.98% and 19.90% while maintaining high growth performance and net profit in T₆ (1:1 mixture of grasshopper and microencapsulated whole egg) and T₅ (1:1 mixture of U. lactuca and Microencapsulated whole egg) respectively. Thus, for affordable feed and best profit, more should be explored on the benefit of using ingredients in T₅ and T₆ as possible feed for C. gariepinus.