Growth performance, feed utilisation and biological indices of Tra catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) cultured in net cages in pond fed diets based on locally available feed resources

The feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of locally available feed resources for Tra catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) cultured a series of 21 hapa net cages installed in the earthen pond during a 4-month period. The reference diet contained fish meal as the main crude protein (CP) source, whilst in the seven test diets 20–100 % of the fish meal CP was replaced with CP from local feed ingredients: groundnut cake (GNC), cassava leaf meal (CSLM), sweet potato leaf meal (SPLM), soybean meal (SBM), golden apple snail meal (GASM) and shrimp head meal. There were differences (p 0.05). However, the viscera-somatic, hepato-somatic, kidney and intra-peritoneal fat indices differed among treatments (p < 0.05). These data show that fish meal protein can be replaced with protein from locally available plant and animal feed ingredient resources in feed cultured in net cages in pond for Tra catfish fingerlings in effectively compromising growth performance, feed utilisation or carcass traits of fish.