Growth Performance of Clarias gariepinus on Diets Fortified with Lactobacillus plantarum and Psidium guajava Leaf

DOI : 10.26650/actavet.2019.412319 This study was conducted to assess the effect of dietary inclusions of Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) and Psidium guajava (P. guajava) diets on the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus (C. gariepinus). Seven treatments were administered to 420 C. gariepinus juveniles. They were: Control (Basal diet of 42% crude protein), L. plantarum (LPc) (cell/1000 mL) at 40, 60, 80 and P. guajava leaf meal (PGLM) (g/1000g) at 40, 60 and 80 per kg of feed. Body Weight Gain (BWG) (g), Specific Growth Rate (SGR) (g/day), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), Survival Rate (SR) (%), Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Nitrogen Metabolism (NM) were evaluated. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at p 0.05) was observed in feed conversion ratio across all treatments. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) observed in the survival rate between control (93.80±4.98)% and 80 PGLM (96.77±4.09)%. No significance difference (p>0.05) was observed in protein efficiency ratio between control (1.01±0.36) and 60 PGLM (0.95±0.36). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) observed in nitrogen metabolism across all treatment groups. Hence, the inclusion level of 40 cells/1000 mL of L. plantarum fortified diet in cultured juvenile C. gariepinus was observed to have a better growth enhancing performance and nutrient utilization than P. guajava leaf meal at 40g/1000g.