NUTRITION, A LIMITING FACTOR FOR PERFORMANCE 'WEIGHT GAIN' STRAINS OF TILAPIA PRODUCED IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: CASE OF PEASANT FARMING IN THE WEST OF THE DRC

Joachim KUZIMBILA YONGO⁽¹⁾, Sylvain KIPOY SUMBU⁽¹⁾, Teddy MBANGU KAYA⁽¹⁾, Soleil WAMWINI⁽²⁾, Richard GASIGWA⁽¹⁾ and Bhely ANGOBOY⁽¹⁾
(1) National Institute for the study and the agronomic research - Democratic Republic of the Congo (INERA - DRC).
(2) Institute superior teaching of Mbanzangungu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (ISP/Mbanzangungu).
Corresponding author: Joachim KUZIMBILA YONGO, Researcher Junior some Agronomy - Aquaculture.
E-mail: joachimkuzimbila@gmail.com Tel. +243 813668888

Tilapia is one of the main fish of livestock in Africa (Carlos Lietar, FAO, 1984). However, despite the potential of exploitation that offers this fish breeding seems not yet mastered in sub-Saharan Africa. The West of the DRC specifically in the provinces of Congo-Central, Kwango and Kwilu, tilapia is the main species of livestock. To answer the question whether the low weight of tilapia in the West of the DRC was due to a genetic degeneration or simply the wrong system of breeding, we have introduced a new strain of tilapia that we compared with the strain local. Both strains were fed on basis of the internal are with a complement of 25 kg/ha of concentrated feed (18% PD) and 50 kg/ha of the droppings of chickens every 10 days.

The average weight of 85,94 g; 150,18 g and 218,22 g were obtained with the local strain respectively at 3, 6 and 9 months. While with the introduced strain, the average weight of 83,34 g; 149,12 g and182,28 g were observed. The ANOVA showed that the differences are significant. At the end of our investigation, it is clear that the very low weight of tilapia produced by peasant farmers in the West of the DRC are due to the use of inadequate nutritional practices. Nutrition is currently the limiting factor for performance of tilapia farming in the West of the DRC.