524 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Open Access Replacement of Fish Meal with Feather Meal in the Diet of Clarias gariepinus Abdur-Rahman Kolawole Mustapha * and Waliyat Olabisi Adeniyi Department of Zoology, Osun State University, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria ABSTRACT Background: Among the factors that affect fish production in Nigeria are scarcity and high cost of most of the ingredients use in preparing fish feeds. The research was con- ducted to check the effects of substituting a fish meal with a feather meal on the growth and nutrient utilization of Clarias gariepinus juveniles. Methodology: The study had five treatments and was carried out on the fish in three rep- licates per treatment (mean weight of 115g) for ten weeks. Each tank of 50- litre capaci- ty, filled with 25 litre of water, was stocked with ten fish per tank. The specimens were fed twice daily at 3% of their body weight. The feeds were formulated to replace the fish meal content with feather meal at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% inclusion levels. The fish weights were taken fortnightly, water quality parameters were monitored weekly, and the growth parameters were computed. Results: The mean weight gain, specific growth rate, and protein efficiency ratio were highest in the fish fed 0% (control diet) and 25% feather meal inclusion with no signifi- cant difference. The study revealed that feather-substituted diets enhanced the growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus, especially at 25% and 50% inclusion levels of feather meal. Conclusion: Feather meal could be used as a substitute to fish meal in the diet of Clarias gariepinus to reduce the fish feed production cost. Keywords: Fishmeal, Feather, Juvenile, Diet, Specific growth rate. Mustapha et al Pan African Journal of Life Sciences (2022): 6(3): 524-530 Pan African Journal of Life Sciences Volume 6 (Issue 3), November 2022 *Correspondence should be addressed to Abdur-Rahman Kolawole MUSTAPHA: abdurahman.mustapha @uniosun.edu.ng Received 7th May 2022; Revised 22nd June 2022; Accepted 19th November 2022 © 2022 Mustapha et al. Licensee Pan African Journal of Life Sciences an official publication of Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative commons Attribution License (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publication of Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and Basic Clinical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. www.pajols.org Online ISSN:2672-5924 DOI: 10.36108/pajols/2202/60.0320