vv 054 Citation: Ojewole AE, Faturoti EO, Ihundu C (2022) Nutrient utilization and growth performance of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed varying levels of Composite Meal (CM) in replacement of fishmeal . Int J Aquac Fish Sci 8(2): 054-058. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-8400.000078 https://doi.org/10.17352/ijafs DOI: 2455-8400 ISSN: LIFE SCIENCES GROUP Abstract This study evaluates the nutrient utilization and growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed alternative animal protein composite meal for 42 days. The composite meal is composed of feather meal, blood meal, tilapia meal, and maggot meal each in a 25% proportion. Five isonitrogenous diets (T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5) containing 40% crude protein were formulated with the composite meal replacing fish meal at 0% control (T1), 25% (T2), 50% (T3), 75% (T4) and 100%(T5) respectively. The weight gain, protein intake, protein efficiency ratio, and specific growth rate in the 75% and 100% inclusion levels were not significantly different from the control diet. Fish survival ranged between 90-95% with the highest weight gain of 10.57g observed in the 100% inclusion level. The Feed conversion ratio varied between (1.17 and 1.37). The results from growth, feed utilization, and survival levels showed an overall good growth of the fish in the experimental diets, and this indicates that the composite meal is a potential replacement for fish meal in the diets of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. Research Article Nutrient utilization and growth performance of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed varying levels of Composite Meal (CM) in replacement of fishmeal Akinloye Emmanuel Ojewole*, Emmanuel Olujimi Faturoti and Christianah Ihundu Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria Received: 10 May, 2022 Accepted: 27 May, 2022 Published: 28 May, 2022 *Corresponding author: Akinloye Emmanuel Ojewole, Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria, E-mail: Keywords: Composite meal; Animal protein; Nutrient utilization; Growth performance; African Catfish Copyright License: © 2022 Ojewole AE, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduc- tion in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://www.peertechzpublications.com Introduction With the annual increase in global population, there has been an increase in fish demand causing rapid growth in the aquaculture industry compared to other animal food production [1]. Sustainable aquaculture production however depends largely on the ability of farmers to formulate cost-effective feed to reduce the cost incurred on feeding which accounts for about 60% of the total aquaculture production cost [2]. For decades, fishmeal which is an important protein ingredient source has constituted a major part of fish feed formulation. In recent years, due to high demand and an increase in prices, the availability of fish meals has decreased significantly [3]. To meet up with rising fish demands, there is a need to find alternative and cheaper protein ingredient sources of plant or animal origin that can replace fish meal which will not affect the nutritional and growth performance of fish. . The availability of cheap feed that meets the protein requirement of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) would go a long way in increasing its production and profitability [4]. Since fishmeal is an expensive feed ingredient, the use of non-conventional feedstuffs in the diets of catfish has been reported. Many Alternative Protein Sources (APS) have been used in the replacement of fishmeal in fish diets through feeding trials [5]. Animal and plant-based feed ingredients such as feather-meal [6], maggot meal [7], poultry offal [8], duckweed [9], brewer wastes [10], and wastes from other animal and plant sources for fish feed formulation have been credited for being cheap and not compatible with human consumption. Feather meal is a poultry by-product with high protein content (80%-85%) and is commercially available. With some chemical treatment, feather meal can be a good source of sulfur-