An Evaluation of Water Pellet Stability of two Iso-proteineous Floating and Sinking Diets

Nutrient leaching from fish feeds when subjected to water in aquaculture systems leads to fish missing out on essential nutrients, thus minimized fish growth. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the water pellet stability of two iso-proteins (32%) fish feeds. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized block design (CRBD) with 3 replicates of each time-duration. Floating and sinking pellets were subjected to water stability tests at different time durations of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 minutes. Thirty-six borosilicate beakers (250 ml) were used. The beakers were each filled with 150 ml of tap water. Two-gram pellets of each diet were immersed in water-filled beakers, after which were stirred one revolt every minute to mimic disturbance while feeding. Results showed a significant interaction between diets and time duration F(5,24) = 7.298, p < .001. Significant differences were observed in the feed, F(1,24) = 574.877, p < .001 and Duration F(5, 24) = 58.077, p < .001. A strong positive correlation between feed and water pellet stability (R = 0.78), p < .001 was observed. The highest stabilities recorded were 90.05 ± 0.20% and 83.08 ± 0.20% for sinking and floating feeds, respectively. Improving on the efficiency of pelleting fish feeds together with different trials is paramount. Aqua feeds’ water stability is affected by duration, thus, a pre-requisite in fish farming.