Evaluation of Farm-made and Commercial Tilapia Diets for Small-scale Hapa Production of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) in Ghana

Aims: To evaluate a farm-made and commercial tilapia diets for small-scale production of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), the most cultured fish in Ghana.

Study Design: Completely randomized design.

Place and Duration of Study: The Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (ARDEC), Akosombo, of Water Research Institute (WRI) of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana, from February to July, 2014.

Methodology: A 30% crude protein (CP) farm-made diet, ARDECFEED was formulated and prepared using locally available ingredients. The two most commonly used commercial fish diets (RAANAN, 30% CP and COPPENS, 34% CP) by small-scale fish farmers were also selected for the study. The feeding trial was conducted in net hapas of dimension 5.0 × 2.0 × 1.2 m installed in a 0.2 hectare earthen pond. O. niloticus with an initial mean weight of 22.8 ± 2.1 g were stocked at a density of 2 fish m-2 and fed at 4 to 3% body weight three times a day including weekends for 140 days. At the end of the period, growth performance, feed utilization and cost-effectiveness of each dietary treatment were determined.

Results: The final mean weights of O. niloticus for the various dietary treatments were 140.3 ± 23.4, 187.6 ± 42.1 and 148.3 ± 25.4 g for ARDECFEED, RAANAN and COPPENS respectively. That of RAANAN was significantly higher (P = .03) than those fed with the other diets. There was no significant difference (P = .67) in specific growth rate among dietary treatments. The highest survival (100.0%) was observed in fish fed with RAANAN whilst the least (86.67%) occurred in those fed with COPPENS. However, there were no significant differences among dietary treatments. In terms of cost effectiveness, the farm-made diet was more profitable than the commercial ones, with COPPENS being the least profitable.

Conclusion: The farm-made diet, ARDECFEED has the best prospects based on growth performance, nutrient utilization and economic returns.