STUDY ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE IN JUVENILE AFRICAN CATFISH, Clarias gariepinus (BURCHELL, 1822) FED WITH PROBIOTICS SUPPLEMENTED DIETS

Probiotics has been widely known to have the ability to stimulate appetite, improve nutrients absorption and immune system of livestock and aquaculture production. This study were carried out to evaluate the effect of probiotics comprised of E1 and E2 as dietary supplement on growth performance of the juvenile African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (5.13 ± 1.03 g) under laboratory conditions for 50 days.  The probiotics were previously isolated from vegetable wastes (Mung bean sprouts, Vigna radiate) and cucumber, Cucumis sativus) which have been fermented for 7 days. The experimental fish were  divided into  i) control, fed with commercial diet ii) E1, fed with practical diets containing  diets  supplemented  with  10⁸ CFU/ml  of  Enterococcus faecium isolated from fermented cucumber, iii) E2, fed with practical diets containing  diets  supplemented  with  10⁸ CFU/ml  of  Enterococcus faecium isolated from fermented mung bean sprouts. The experimental fish were measured for every 10 days of interval and the growth performance were assessed on weight gain (WG), length and specific growth rate (SGR) were calculated.

Probiotics supplementation showed improved growth performance especially in fish fed with E1 and E2 as compared to the control groups. The final weight and body weight gain of E1 and E2 increased significantly (P< 0.05) as compared to the control group (Table 1). In addition, SGR of the growth performances resulted with E1 and E2 showed significantly higher SGR (P< 0.05) compared to control group (Table 1). In conclusion, this study suggested that E. faecium were effective as probiotics for growth promoters in juvenile African catfish when supplemented as daily diet.