ISSN: 2577-4050
Authors: Alamba SR*, Solomon SG, Obande RA, Olufeagba SO and Ataguba GA
In the face of increasing demand for sustainable aquafeeds, utilization of organic waste for maggot production represents an attractive position that might result in better nutrition for the fish with reduced environmental impact. The present study examines the production and nutritional efficiency of housefly maggot meal sourced from three organic substrates: cow manure, swine manure, and poultry manure, mixed with cow blood for the feeding of Clarias gariepinus. The production of housefly maggots was done using a wetting method. In the wetting method, each substrate used in the production of maggots were wetted twice every day and kept in shaded conditions for the proper development of the larvae. After the larvae had formed, maggots were harvested on the fourth day. The processed maggots were blanched, sealed using sunlight, oven-dried, and then ground into meal. Proximate composition analysis (crude protein, moisture, ash, crude fiber, and nitrogen-free extract) was carried out on the processed maggots. Growth trials were conducted to investigate the effects of inclusion of different levels of maggot meal on the performance of the fish over a period of ten weeks. Data derived from the tests were analyzed using ANOVA, and the level of significance was at (p < 0.05). Proximate composition reveals that the levels of protein remained the same for the diets tested and ranged from 45.32% to 45.81% with p-value of (0.067). Significant differences were seen in moisture content at (p < 0.0001), ash content at (p = 0.009), and NFE content at (p = 0.002). Amongst the various diets analyzed, diet T5 recorded the highest level of moisture at 9.24%, while diet T2 showed the highest in terms of ash content at 9.53%. Growth performance showed that diet T4 (75% maggot meal) significantly improved final weight (15.40 g, p = 0.000), weight gain (14.40 g, p = 0.000), and feed conversion efficiency (FCR: 1.64, p = 0.003) compared with other treatments. Carcass analysis conducted in this study showed that the diet labeled T4 had the highest crude protein content, measuring as high as 58.35%. It had the lowest ether extract levels. Additionally, the analysis of water quality done, shows that diet T5 had higher pH, 8.92 and dissolved oxygen 4.76 mg/L (p< 0.05). The findings of this research are evident that maggot meal is a sustainable and very efficient feedstuff protein source in aquaculture. Against the growth observed with diet T4, absolute benefits of inclusions of higher rates of maggot meal in fish feed for optimum growth performance are indicated. Besides this, the differences seen in water quality parameters among treatments stress the huge role dietary composition plays in setting conditions related to aquaculture. Based on the present observations, further studies relating the impacts of maggot meal on fish health with overall sustainability of aquaculture production systems need to be conducted.
Keywords: Clarias gariepinus; Maggot Meal; Proximate Composition; Fish Meal
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